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t 







RMENIA AND 

HER PEOPLE 



OR 



Ql\)t Storj) of Armenia 

BY AN ARMENIAN 



A description of the land of Armenia : 
its ancient and modern history; its 
physical features; its people^ their re- 
ligious beliefs, customs, etc., from the 
oldest dates, as recorded in Armenian 
Histories and Church Records* A 
presentation of the true causes of the 
recent atrocities and a detailed account 
of the massacres ,^ ^ ,^ ^ ^ ^ t^ 



By 

Rev» George H. Filian 

A native pastor, banished by the Turkish Government 
from the City of Marsovan, Armenia 



(^* t^* ^^^ 



HARTFORD, CONN. ' 
AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1896 



VlX^'u'^'^ 






coptrioht 1896 

By American Publishing Compakt 

Hartford, Conn. 

(All rights reserved) 







RIGHT REV. BISHOP M. KHIRIMIAN. 

The Armenian Catholicos. 



Coal of Arms and Flags of Ancient Armenia. 




/ . The Hjiisf of Hit ig/i . 

g. Tru Dyniisty of Arslngonitiaii , 



3. The Dynasty 0/ Pakradounian 

4. The Kingiiotit of Roubinian 



2>ct)fcatlon 

IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE MARTYRS OF ARMENIA WHO 

SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR CHRIST THIS 

VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



(8> 



CONTENTS. 



The Land op Armenia, 



PAGE. 

2! 



11. 



The People of Armenia, 



39 



III. 



The Armenian Dynasties, 



45 



lY 



Rulers of The Ottoman Empire, 



132 



V. 

The Great Powers and The Armenian Question, . 175 



VI. 

The Causes of the Atrocities, 

VII. 
The Turkish Atrocities in Armenia, . 

VIII. 
The Armenians of To-Day 



2r 



239 



334 



IX. 

The Future op Armenia and the Battle of Arma- 
geddon, 350 



X. 

Poems on the Armenian Question, 

(V) 



362 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait op Armenian Catholicos, 

Portrait of Author, 

City op Antioch, 

Map of Armenia, 

Mount Ararat, . 

Kurdish Bandits, 

Oriental Threshing Floor, 

Armenian Flags — Coats of Arms, 

Lake and City of Van, . 

Oldest Church Edifice in the World, 

Portrait of Armenian Patriarch, 

Recent Portrait of Sultan of Turkey, 

Early Portrait of Sultan of Turkey, 

A Bread Seller, 

A Zeibeck, 

A SOFTA, 

Group of Circassians, 

Group of Georgians, 

Kurdish Home, . 

Kurd Chiefs, 

Kurd Woman, . 

Massacre at Sassoun, 

(vii) 



FACE PAGE 
1 

12 

17 

21 

23 

35 

35 

45 

49 

101 

108 

139 

143 

166 

166 

166 

217 

217 

239 

239 

239 

247 



viii ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FACE PAGE 

Massacre at Erzeroum, 247 

Massacre at Stamboul, 257 

City of Harpoot, 264 

Armenian Peasant Girl, 272 

MousA Beg, Kurd Chief, 272 

Rev. Prof. Thourmain, ' . . 272 

City of Marsovan, 280 

A Water Peddler 280 

City of Trebizond, , . . 300 

Group of Armenian Children, 319 

Group of Young Armenian Women, .... 319 

Anatolia College, 335 

Armenian Family 335 



PREFACE. 



The problem of Armenia and the Turkish atrocities there, 
is in the very forefront of the world's burning questions at 
the present time. In every civilized land it is ranked along- 
side their own pressing local issues; everywhere there is 
not only sympathy and indignation, but a feeling of real re- 
sponsibility. We are a group of Christian nations, and the 
first Christian nation is being exterminated. Within a few 
months the unspeakable Turks and barbarous Kurds de- 
stroyed more than a thousand villages and towns, murdered 
a hundred thousand Armenian Christians,— men, women, and 
innocent children,— and left 500,000 others without homes, 
clothing, or food, thousands of women shamefully defiled, 
and thousands of men put to horrible tortures. Dying in 
the streets, in the fields, on the mountains ; dying of hunger, 
of cold, of storm, and of diseases bred of all these; dying of 
broken hearts and despair, even more, of shame and mental 
torture. Yet all these Armenians who thus suffered and 
were driven forth to starve and die like deserted animals, 
were absolutely peaceable,— indeed, they were totally un- 
armed andcould not have been otherwise if they wished,— 
perfectly respectable, most of them comfortably off, and 
some of them rich. One who was last week a banker is to- 
day a beggar; yesterday a merchant, to-day a tramp. Why ? 
For the main reason that he is a Christian, and the Sultan 
has resolved to have no more Christians in his dominion; the 
doom of Islamism is hauging over their heads. " If you 

accept Islam," they are told, "well and good; if you do 

(ix) 



X PREFACE. 

not, you shall be killed — or worse — as your fellows have 
been." 

These are all facts, proved to superfluity, though the Sul- 
tan denies them and instructs his ministers everywhere to 
deny them. How often has the Turkish minister in Wash- 
ington, Mavroyeni Beg, oflicially (?) declared the Armenian 
atrocities to be fiction, giving the papers lying statements 
(which come from the Sublime Porte), and asserted that the 
Armenians were the aggressors ! It is precisely as though 
one should account for a devastated sheepfold, with the 
wolves raging about in it, by alleging that the lambs had 
wantonly assailed and slain the wolves first. Some pre- 
tended to believe this rubbish; but most people, to their 
credit, are only the more angered and disgusted by it. The 
Turkish proverbs, occasionally good, are generally evil,— 
a significant index to the race; one of the commonest is this: 
" Yalan yigitin kullesi dir " (A lie is the fortress of the 
brave). Kill, plunder, ravish, and then deny it; not sim- 
ply deny it, but cliarge those very things to your enemy, 
and make them an excuse for all you do to him or his. Such 
are the principles of the Sultan, the false successor of the 
false prophet of Arabia. At the very time when noble 
American and European Christians are sending help to the 
survivors of his massacres, to the half-million homeless, 
naked, starving, heart-broken beggars he has made from 
prosi)erous citizens, he coolly denies that anything has hap- 
pened but the putting down of a few local riots. He writes 
to Queen Victoria sympathizing with her expressions of 
humane sentiment, but declaring that the reports were in- 
vented by evil-disposed persons; that on the exact contrary, 
it was the Turks who were first attacked while praying in 
the mosques. He assures the Queen that his measures 
have succeeded in restoring order. 



X PREFACE. xl 

And this same Sultan a few months ago, before the 
greatest of the recent massacres, wrote to Lord Salisbury 
as follows:— "Take the words of my honor, 1 will make 
reforms in Armenia. I will keep before me every article of 
the desired reforms, and will order the governors of the 
provinces to carry them into effect." He at once began to 
put this pledge of his " honor " into effect, by sending orders 
from Yildiz Kiosk to the provincial governors in Armenia 
to root out or convert the accursed infidels. Since that 
promise of his "honor" months have passed away; and 
during the time at least eighty thousand more Armenian 
Christians have been killed, and even death has been the 
most merciful " reform " he has bestowed on the land. The 
word in his mouth means beggaring, burning, ravaging, 
violating, mutilating, torturing, and assassinating. When 
all the leading Armenians are slain and their helpless fami- 
lies forced to become Mohammedans, after the women have 
been dishonored,— in a word, when all the Armenian Chris- 
tians are exterminated, then Armenia will have been re- 
formed. A special chapter is devoted to the person and 
doings of this eminent reformer. 



THE AUTHOR. 

A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND BIRTHPLACE. 

I was born January 20, 1853, in a suburb of Antioch; 
twelfth child and youngest son of a family of nine boys and 
four girls, and therefore considered the Joseph of the fam- 
ily, and as a small boy went to a missionary school with my 
elder brothers. My father was a banker and merchant. 
His partner in the former business was Mr. Edward Barker, 
English consul at Aleppo; in the latter a Greek, Jabra An- 
taki, their traffic being in raw silk, for which and for silk- 
worms Antioch is a great center. Millions of dollars passed 
through his hands, and he was considered one of the wealth- 
iest men in the city. A common saying was, " If you can 
drain the Mediterranean dry, you can drain Filian's money 
dry." This saying roused the cupidity of the local governor; 
he imprisoned my father, and proposed to torture and kill 
him, and confiscate his property. Americans would relish 
living under this sort of government. His partner, the 
consul, saved him, however, and won his undjang gratitude; 
and when Mr. Barker died, my father gave his son a part 
of his own orchard for a burial ground. The son erected a 
beautiful $25,000 monument there, which still stands, the 
ground being owned by my brother, Moses Pilian. 

When I was fourteen or fifteen, my father lost all his 
money through the failure of others, became hopelessly 
bankrupt, and was too old to regain his position, and sank 
into a poor and broken-hearted old man: his Mediterranean 
was not inexhaustible. He often patted me and said, " My 
dear boy, I am sorry — I helped your brothers and gave 
them good educations, and I meant to do the same by you; 
but I cannoi, for I am too poor. You will have to make 
your own way." He was a devoted friend of education, 
himself highly educated, master of three languages,— Ar- 

(xii) 



THE AUTHOR. xiii 

menian, Arabic, and Turkish — and of strong reasoning 
powers, logical, imaginative, profound, and far-sighted. 
Moreover, he was a zealous Christian, greatly respected and 
liked. In person he was tall, and very stout, with large, 
bright eyes, and full, rosy cheeks; built like my great-grand- 
father, from whose elephantine figure the family took its 
surname. Filian means " Son of an elephant," and his de- 
scendants—about 150 in all, one of the largest single fami- 
lies in the Orient — have been mostly large-framed men and 
women. 

At about fifteen I had to go to work. One of my brothers 
being a weaver, I learned that trade from him, and kept at 
it for three years, weaving both cotton and silk, and not 
only supporting myself, but helping support my father. 
Then I took up shoemaking, which paid better, but neither 
my father nor myself was satisfied to have me remain a 
common workman. He wanted me to become a banker and 
merchant, as he had been, and his old friends, who re- 
spected him, would have given me a chance to start; but I 
had always been devout from a little boy, and felt that I 
had a call to be a minister. While making shoes, I prayed 
the Lord to open the way. I often thought, " Suppose I 
become the richest shoemaker or even the richest banker 
in Antioch, what then? Shall I ever be happy? No. Then 
Lord, w^hat is my call ? " I believed I heard the answer- 
ing voice of God in my soul saying, " I have created thee to 
become a minister of the gospel." So I went to a missionary 
of the American Board in Antioch, and consulted him; by 
his encouragement I went to the Theological Seminary at 
Marash, in Armenia Minor, and studied there three years 
in the preparatory course. 

Before taking my theological lessons I was sent by the 
missionaries to Caesarea (Kayserieh) to teach in a town 
near by. On reaching the city the pastor of the Protestant 
Church invited me to preach to his congregation the fol- 
lowing Sunday morning. I did so; the missionaries heard 
me, changed their minds, said I was better fitted for a 
preacher than a teacher, and sent me to preach at a vil- 
lage named Chomakli, near Mt. Argaeus. The Lord seemed 
to fill me with eloquence, and crowds flocked to hear me. 



XIV THE AUTHOR. 

Then the missionaries called me to a larger field, Talas, their 
central town; the same fortune attended me there, and 
steadily followed me in the other places to which I went. 
I will not make a long story of it. Enough to say that I 
always felt utterly helpless before preaching, empty of 
matter and words; I went to my room and cried to my 
Heavenly Father, and always overflowed with things to 
say when the time came. There was no limit to my im- 
agination; illustrations thronged upon me by hundreds; I 
felt inspired from Heaven. I never wrote a sermon before 
preaching it, but wrote it down literally as soon as I had 
finished. — I wrote every Monday, — and they are all ready 
to be published in both Armenian and Turkish. 

1 was a successful preacher, but I had no theological ed- 
ucation (though I studied my Bible hard), and felt that I 
needed one. I decided to go to America for it, but the 
missionaries opposed the plan bitterly. One of the ladies 
told me plainly it was a sin; that I had no right to give up 
a successful and useful ministry to go there. I replied that 
giving up the ministry would be a sin, but not going away to 
prepare for higher usefulness, and coming back to carry it 
out. Then she said I had no money to go, and did not un- 
derstand English. I answered that I had faith that God 
would create the means. She laughingly bade me give her 
best regards to her friends when I came. She meant it for 
a joke, but I carried it out in earnest. 

How I finally came to this country would take too long 
to tell. I will only say that I crossed the ocean by faith. 
When I reached New York in .July, 1879, I had only 15 
cents in my pocket. I worked hard day and night in a 
rag felt factory in the Bowery, and slept on the rags on 
the floor, covering myself with a piece of flannel. But the 
Lord opened the way. I went to Oberlin, Ohio, and studied 
there, supporting myself by sawing wood for the professors 
of the Theological Seminary. In six months I could talk 
English well enough to lecture, and after that time I sup- 
ported myself by lecturing. Finally I was sent to Nebraska 
as a home missionary during the summer vacation. On my 
return I entered the Chicago Theological Seminary, and 
graduated there in 1882, after which I lectured rather widely 



THE AUTHOR. XV 

through the country. Then I went home, and for a time 
was pastor of the Constantinople Evangelical Armenian 
Church. Later I had a call from Marsovan, accepted it, 
and had so large a congregation there that a church with a 
capacity of 2,000 was needed. I returned to this country, 
raised the money, left it in a Chicago bank (where it still 
lies in trust), and went back to build the church. That very 
success aroused the jealousy of some wicked men, and they 
falsely charged me with being the leader of the revolution- 
ary societies in Turkey. On this charge I was banished, and 
now I am here again,— free and happy with my family, but 
full of sorrow for my dear people daily martyred by the 
Turks. 

ANTIOCH. 

The city of Antioch, where the disciples were first 
called Christians, (Acts xi. 26,) was built by Seleucus Nica- 
tor, 300 B. C, and enlarged by Antiochus Epiphanes. All 
the civilized world was then under Roman inile; Rome, 
Antioch, and Jerusalem were the leading cities. Jerusalem 
being a Jewish city, and Rome being a Roman heathen 
city, there was no room in either to preach the gospel freely; 
nor indeed in any other — the disciples were persecuted and 
martyred everywhere. There was just one exception — the 
city of Antioch; that was as free as any American city is 
to-day. This arose from the fact that when in the Asiatic 
campaign of Pompey the Great, he came about 65 B. C. to 
Antioch, he was received by the people with great honors; 
and was so charmed with the citj, and his treatment, that 
he made it an absolutely free city for all, for every nation 
and for every religion, and the Roman emperors continued 
its privileges. When Stephen was martyred in Jerusalem 
the disciples were scattered; some of them reached Antioch, 
300 miles north, and began to preach freely, making many 
converts. Barnabas was in Jerusalem, but hearing of his 
brethren's success, he also went to Antioch and began to 
preach; as he was a great orator, full of enthusiasm and 
faith, thousands were converted. But he was not satis- 
fied. Crossing the Bay of Iskenderoon, about eighty miles 
off, he went to Tarsus, where Paul, now a convert, was liv- 



xvi THE AUTHOR 

ing, auci induced Taul to return \yitli him to Antiocb that 
tliey might preach the gospel together. 

Only scholars have any idea of the greatness and beauty 
of Antioch at this time; it was second only to Rome, and 
was the second largest city in the world, with nearly a 
million people; so rich and luxurious as to be called the 
Golden City; so lovely and architecturally imposing as to 
be called the Queen City. The finest street ran east and 
west for several miles; it was of great width, paved from 
end to end with vari-colored marble blocks, and with marble 
pillars on both sides along its whole extent, on which were 
magnificent marble palaces of the Roman officers. In that 
same grand avenue were theaters, singers of both sexes, 
fortune-tellers, great heathen orators and philosophers, and 
throngs of people passing along. Paul and Barnabas stood 
on the marble pavement month after month for a year, full 
of the Holy Ghost, and proclaimed the everlasting gospel. 
Crowds gathered to hear them; even the officers and their 
wives, stretching their heads from the windows of their 
palaces, listened to them; they gained disciples from every 
rank for Christ and His religion, and the converts there first 
received the name of Christians. 

This was my birthplace and my relatives still live there. 
Since the time of Christ and his disciples, Antioch has 
been ten times destroyed by earthquakes. In the fourth 
century the whole city was destroyed, and 250.000 people 
were buried under the ruins. That beautiful street and its 
magnificent palaces are now buried two or three yards be- 
low the surface of the ground. In 1872, when I was there, 
an earthquake destroyed the whole city, and almost in a 
moment several thousand people perished. Several of my 
own relatives and many of my friends were killed. The 
city has now only 25,000 people, most of them Mohammedan 
Turks. There are many Fellahin, and perhaps 2,000 
Greeks, and 500 Armenians, but in the suburbs the Armen- 
ians are more numerous, and are the intellectual heads of 
the whole. 

Antioch is still a beautiful and stately city, and a great 
center for licorice, raw silk, wheat, and soap. The finest 
soap is manufactured there. About thirty factories make 



THE AUTHOR. 



xvii 



it, from pure olive oil and daphne oil, the latter giving it a 
sweet fragrance. The daphne groves are very numerous. 
The city has excellent orchards and vineyards, orange trees, 
olive trees, fig trees, yeniduinya trees, palm trees, pome- 
granate trees. All sorts of fruits, in every season of the 
year, are fresh on the branches. But for occasional earth- 
quakes, it would be a queen city yet; none could surpass its 
beauty or fruitfulness. 

GEORGE H. FILIAN. 




CITY OF ANTIOCH. 



3 



-^^^^ 









i/7^; 



/*-C ^-^^-Vx^-i^ *^ ^/4^*-fr V^T-^l -f ' l*-«?*n Vv-:y-/ ♦^V"*'*^ 

xrith'^T' " *^ **— •;-?.- *»-- >-^h'xf -'^-' — — /jhrV>^^>*;; 



Translation of a letter (see opposite page) written in 
1842 by the District Catholicos at city of Sis to Kevork 
Filian (father of the author) in Antioch : 



Red Seal 

of 

Catholicos. 



Symbol 

in colors 

representing 

an Altar, 



Symbol 
in colors „ 

Michael Catholicos, The servant of Jesus 

representing q^^^^^ ^^y ^^e grace of our Lord, the 

the name supreme father of all Armenians who live 

Jesus Christ, in Great Seleucia. I the servant of St. 

Gregory's right hand and most Holy throne 

of the Holy Mother Church. Greetings of 

love and blessings upon my spiritual son Kevork Filian 

esteemed and honored and to all who belong to his family, 

perpetual happiness through Jesus Christ. 

Honorable Gentleman. You will be informed through 
my letter of spiritual greetings and blessings that truly 
and earnestly, more than a father, I am willing to bestow 
upon you my blessings and praises, and in order to show 
my respect practically, I feel it my duty to thank you for 
your hospitality, when I came to your blessed home, as a 
spiritual father, where I was entertained and received 
proper honors. The Lord bless your valuable soul and 
keep you prosperous and happy through the mediation of 
Jesus and St. Gregory. The Lord give you and to all those 
who belong to you, power and ability in doing good. For 
a long time I have desired to send to you this letter 
of blessing; but I have not been able. Now I am glad to 
send to you one of my spiritual sons Rev. Sarkis Vartabed 
(a preacher). When he comes he will see your good deeds 
and enjoy your hospitality. May 4. 1842. 

(xix) 



AUTHOE'S EXPLANATIOK 



The author feels that it is due to both his Armenian 
readers and himself to explain why, in some points, he has 
deviated alike from the Armenian historians and his own 
conviction. It is because on these points, the Armenian 
records are in irreconcilable conflict with those of Rome or 
Persia, or both, and in a book mainly for Anglo-Saxon read- 
ers it is not possible to defy the general consensus of western 
scholarship, which, in my judgment, has not given proper 
weight to Armenian sources. I will specify only two or 
three items ; if my Armenian friends notice other contra- 
dictions of their accepted history they will be safe in setting 
them down to the same cause. 

It is a commonplace of Armenian history that St. 
Gregory, the Illuminator, the Christianizer of Armenia, was 
the son of Anag, the murderer of King Chosroes (see page 72) 
born about the time of the murder, and made himself the 
companion of Chosroes' son, Tiridates, partly in order to 
atone for his father's crime. I am very reluctant to omit 
this fact; but the birth of Gregory and the death of Ardashir 
will not fit according to western dates, though they are 
coherent from Armenian. 

I have also given twenty years' rule and a good character 
to King Artavasdes, who reigned three and was a coward. 

Most unwillingly of all, I have changed a very full and 
eulogistic account of Moses Khorenatzi, the great national 
historian of Armenia, for a meager and depreciating one. 
That he lived in the fifth century and wrote as an eye and 
ear witness, instead of being a not wholly veracious com- 
piler of two centuries later, and that his history is sound 
and consistent, is my firm belief. That his work is better 
known than all other Armenian works together, and is the 
one native book that has become a standard western classic, 
shows the powerful genius of the man. 

GEORGE H. FILIAN. 

(XX) 



I. 

THE LAISTD OF AEMEE^IA. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

Where is Armenia ? It seems a simple question, 
yet during my lecturing in the United States I have 
met far more people who did not know than who did. 
That is natural enough, for until the late horrors, it 
seemed little more than a name of old history, of no 
present importance ; but there is a further reason. The 
present Sultan forbids the use of the name altogether, 
and insists on the district being termed Kurdistan, 
or called by the names of its vilayets, Diarbekr, Yan, 
Erzroom, etc. Many maps do not have the name 
Armenia at all. A few years ago, when the mission- 
aries of the American Board were organizing the col- 
lege at Harpoot, now so bloodily famous, they named 
it Armenia College; but the Sultan forbade it on 
the ground that there was no longer an Armenia, and 
the use of the name would encourage the Armenians* 
to revolt. The missionaries were forced to change the 
name to Euphrates College. If any Turkish subject 
uses the word, he is fined and imprisoned ; if it is used 
in any book, the book is confiscated, and the author 
banished or killed. The study of Armenian history 

*Tbe word " Armenian " is not altogether indicative of race, it refers more 
particularly to those who are Christians. Any who have forsaken the faith and 
become Mohammedans are no longer regarded as Armenians, but are Turks. 

(21) 



22 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

is forbidden to tlie Armenians; they must be kept in 
ignorance about their own land, so that many of them 
do not know where Armenia was or what Armenia is. 
A letter directed to any person or place in Armenia 
will never reach its destination; for the Turkish pos- 
tal authorities recognize no such address. There is 
still another cause for the widespread ignorance 
concerning Armenia. It has been partitioned be- 
tween three different powers, Turkey, Russia, and Per- 
sia. The northern part, from Batoum on the Black 
Sea to Baku on the Caspian, — the river Araxes being 
the boundary to near Mt. Ararat, — belongs to Bus- 
sia; the southeastern course of the Araxes from near 
Mt. Ararat, to Persia ; the largest and most fertile part, 
the western, from Mt. Ararat to the Black Sea and 
the Kizil-Irmak to Turkey. But at the time of its 
greatest extent and power, when its people were great 
and its kings were great, long before Alexander's con- 
quest, — Armenia covered about 500,000 square 
miles, and stretched from the Black Sea and the Cau- 
casus on the north to Persia, and Syria on the south, 
from the Caspian and a much smaller Persia on the 
east, to Cilicia and far beyond the Halys (Kizil-Ir- 
mak) on the west, but including also old Media and a 
part of Mesopotamia. 

It is one of the most picturesque of countries; tra- 
velers call it the Switzerland of Asia. Its general 
character is that of a plateau some 4,000 feet above 
the sea, a natural garden watered by noble streams 
and studded with beautiful lakes; but the mountain 




MOUNT ARARAT. 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 23 

ranges are 7,000 to 8,000 on the average, while that 
historic land-mark, the superb snow-capped Mt. Ara- 
rat, is about 1 8,000, — towering toward Heaven nearly 
in the center of Armenia, piercing and ruling over the 
clouds and the storms. 

Armenia is the mother land, the cradle of human- 
ity, and all other lands are her daughters; but she is 
fairer than any other. Even her mountain tops of per- 
petual snow are a crown of glory; the sun kisses her 
brow with the smile of morning; and she supplies the 
beautiful rivers, Euphrates, Tigris, Pison, Araxes, 
and many others from the jewels of her crown. These 
rivers penetrate to every corner of the land; traverse 
many hundreds of miles to give life to the fields, the 
vineyards, and the orchards, to turn the mills, and final- 
ly close their course in the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, 
and the Gulf of Persia, carrying the bounty and good- 
will messages of the mother land to her children in re- 
mote parts, to Persia, India, and Russia. Erom the 
same inexhaustible reservoir she feeds her noble 
lakes; Sevan (Gokche), TJrumiah, Van and the rest. 
Lake Sevan is the only sweet-water lake; the 
others are salt. The most important is Lake Van, 
probably the most elevated of any large-sized lake in 
the world; it is 5,400 feet above sea level, and its area 
is 1,400 square miles. A few words from the author's 
respected teacher. Professor Philip Schaff, will not 
be amiss. Schaff's Bible Dictionary, page 68, 
"Physical Eeatures of Armenia," says: "It is 
chiefly an elevated plateau about 7,000 feet above 



24 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the level of the sea, the highest peak being Mt. Ararat. 
The lower portions of the plateau are broken by val- 
leys and glens, including the fertile valleys of the Eu- 
phrates and Tigris. It is watered by four large 
streams, the Araxes, the Kur, the Euphrates, and the 
Tigris ; also by numerous lakes, one of the largest, the 
salt Lake Van, being over 5,400 feet above the sea." 

NATURAL RESOURCES. 

The mineral wealth of Armenia is very great ; but 
like the other potential riches of the Turkish Em- 
pire, it profits nobody, not even the greedy despot 
whose word is death. Gold, silver, copper, iron, and 
minor metals, besides marble and other beautiful 
stones, are present in abundance. About three miles 
from Marsovan, where I preached, is a mountain called 
Tarshan Dagh (rabbit mountain), rich in gold; another 
called Goomish Dagh, about eight miles west, is laden 
Avith silver; and they are likely to remain so, for no 
one will rifle them of their treasures while Turkey en- 
dures. The Sultan, it is true, sends an officer from 
Constantinople under large salary, to take out the pre- 
cious metals, but that person does very little work. 
He lives like a lord, lets things go as they will, bribes 
the palace officials, and all the gold and silver extracted 
does not pay his wages. The Sultan mil not permit 
Christians to work mines, and if they did, he would 
rob them of the proceeds. Everywhere the condition 
is the same. Though Armenia is the oldest inhabited 
country, she is, in utilization, the newest ; much newer 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 25 

than the United States, for indeed she does not exist 
yet. She is a virgin land, her mines not open, her 
soil not half tilled. The Turks and the Kurds are 
lazy and stagnant ; they will do nothing, and they will 
not permit the industrious Armenian Christians to do 
anything of importance. 

The country has all the old fertility which made 
Asia Minor under the Byzantine Empire the garden 
of the world, till the Turks half turned it into a desert, 
as they do every spot accursed by their presence. The 
grain, the fruit, the vegetables are hardly, if at all, to 
be equaled. The watermelons raised on the banks 
of the Euphrates and the Tigris are the largest and 
sweetest of their kind; two melons are sometimes a 
cameFs load. It is impossible for a family to use the 
whole of such a melon, which has to be cut up and sold 
in pieces. The grapes, either fresh or in the shape 
of wine or raisins, are of the first rank. Many varie- 
ties when cured and dried as raisins exceed in size 
the plumpest grapes of other lands. Nearly every- 
thing is raised or grows wild in Armenia which is to 
be had in the Northern or Southern States of America, 
though of course each country has some things pecu- 
liar to itself. The products of the North are paral- 
leled by those of the rugged picturesque highlands of 
North Turkish and Russian Armenia, with their cold, 
snowy winters, short, hot summers, and mild inter- 
vening seasons; those of the South find their counter- 
parts from the rich upland valleys, or the lowland 
plains needing irrigation, of Kurdistan and Persian 



26 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Armenia (Azerbijan), with its semi-tro23ical climate, 
and alternations of wet and dry seasons. The grain 
crops are wheat, Indian corn, barley, and oats. Cot- 
ton is one of the main products ; a great deal of tobacco 
and rice are raised; and sugar is made in the Persian 
part. In the fields and gardens you can find not only 
the wonderful melons I have just spoken of, but 
pumpkins and squashes, lettuce and egg-plant, and 
indeed most of the vegetables that come to an Ameri- 
can table. As to fruits, all that you know we know 
also, only of finer flavors. Asia Minor is the original 
home of the quince, the apricot, and the nectarine, 
and I believe of the peach too ; while our apples, pears, 
and plums are incomparable. The Muscat apples of 
Amassia are exceptional even there. After eating 
them, one hardly wonders that Adam and Eve could 
not resist the temptation of doing the same, at the 
cost of innocence and Eden. The pears of Malatia 
keep them company ; and the quince grows sometimes 
as large as a man's head. Another fruit equally im- 
portant is the mulberry for silk-worms. The olive 
and ^g are cultivated and also grow wild, and filberts 
and walnuts can be gathered anywhere in the woods, 
as well as orchards; of course not the American '^ hick- 
ory nuts," but the " English walnuts " of the gro- 
ceries. 

In spite of the dreadful roads, and the lack of pro- 
tection for travelers, the Armenians manage to send a 
good deal of grown or manufactured stuff to the ports 
on the Black and Caspian seas, — Trebizond, Batoum, 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 27 

Poti, Baku, — silk and cotton, and fabrics made from 
them; hides and leather, including lambskins; wine, 
dried fruits, raisins, tobacco, drugs, and dyestuffs, 
wax, and other things. 

Methods of cultivation are probably much like 
what they were in Abraham's time ; there are no very 
modern machines or even tools. The plough is not 
quite the mere scratching-stick of the savages, to be 
sure ; but it is only a crooked piece of wood with a bit 
of iron fastened to the end that touches the ground, 
drawn by oxen and held by the farmer. The fields of 
grain are reaped by the sickle as of old ; it takes as long 
to cut down one acre so as fifty by a common mowing 
machine. The sheaves are carried to a gal or thresh- 
ing floor near the house, an open platform, not shel- 
tered from the weather; and there the grain is sepa- 
rated from the straw by a process so curious that I 
doubt if any American, save a missionary to Armenia, 
has ever heard of it. It is not treading it out under 
the feet of the cattle, as pictured in the Bible, nor 
beating it out with a flail; both these methods kept 
the straw whole. A threshing board is made by 
fastening hundreds of sharp flints into a wooden 
frame; the grain is placed between this and the 
threshing floor, the oxen attached to the board, and 
the farmer sitting on it drives them round and round 
in a circle until the straw is cut fine, and the grain 
well rubbed and shaken loose. Then, on the first 
windy day, he takes the old hand fan or winnow, and 
separates the grain from the straw, keeping the latter 



28 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

to feed the animals in winter; for the long grass of 
American plateaus, and the barns of hay from them, 
are seldom seen in Armenia. 

The wheat crops are extraordinary ; not only great 
in yield, but the grains often double the size of ordi- 
nary American wheat, as compared with specimens 
from the large and representative fields of Minnesota 

and Nebraska. 

TAXATION. 

But when this wheat is threshed out, the farmer 
cannot shovel it up and grind, or sell, or put it into 
bins; no indeed ! He cannot take up a quart of it 
without permission from the government; for the gov- 
ernment claims one-eighth of it as a tax, — it was 
always a ^^ tithe " or tenth from the oldest historic 
times down to the present Sultan, but he raised the 
percentage to an eighth, — and it must stay on that 
exposed threshing floor, in rain or winds, or any sort 
of weather, till the tax-gatherer comes and measures 
it, which may be a week, or two weeks, or a month, 
and will be forever unless he is bribed to come. Nor 
is even this double tax all; the tax-gatherer is a tax 
farmer, — that is, he pays a lump sum to the govern- 
ment for the taxes of a district, and all he can get 
above that is so much profit to him; so if the grain 
on a threshing floor actually measures ten bushels, say, 
he will write it fifteen. After the farmer has paid 
first the tax on the land to the government direct, then 
the double, or rather treble, tax to the gatherer on the 
crops, more than half the income he can get from the 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 29 

land has gone to the government. I do not know an 
Armenian farmer who is not in debt ; they work hard, 
but the products of their labor go to the government 
and the Kurds, and any one who complains is con- 
sidered a revolutionist, and imprisoned or killed. The 
simple unvarnished truth is that an Armenian Chris- 
tian has no rights of life or property whatever; and 
all he keeps of either (not very much) is what the reg- 
ularly appointed officials or the self-appointed Kurdish 
fleecers choose to leave him. 

This, however, is anticipating. I have only 
begun on the catalogue of taxes which strip most 
Armenians, and are intended to strip them, of every- 
thing but the means of sustaining life and perpetuating 
their race. When a boy is born, a poll-tax is laid on 
him, — two dollars on the average, — which must be 
paid every year as long as he lives, whether he remains 
in Armenia or leaves it. Of course, during boyhood 
the parents have to pay this tax on every male child ; if 
a woman is widowed, she has to go on paying these 
capitation taxes just the same. They are assumed to 
be taxes in lieu of military service ; the Sultan takes no 
soldiers from the Armenians, — does not dare, — and 
this poll-tax is used to raise and pay that very Turkish 
army which in return butchers the Armenians, just 
as the old tribute of Christian children was used to 
butcher their parents. (That the Armenians are un- 
warlike and would not make good soldiers is ridicu- 
lously untrue; many of the best soldiers and best of- 
ficers, even commanders-in-chief, in the Kussian ser- 



30 AKMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

vice are Armenians.) When the boy lias attained 
manhood he pays his own tax, — he must have a paper 
of citizenship, which must be renewed every year, and 
for which he must pay ; but he is not allowed to leave 
the country without providing absolute security, either 
in property or bondsmen, for paying that tax through 
life, wherever he may be. Of course this is utterly 
impossible in most cases, — men of property do not 
often migrate, and men without property do not easily 
get people to be responsible for lifelong obligation to 
let them emigrate; which is one chief reason why so 
few Armenians, except banished ones, or runaways, 
are seen in foreign countries. Furthermore, as I have 
said, he must pay for a passport every time he stirs 
from home. Land, houses, cattle, crops, are all sep- 
arately taxed. Suppose an Armenian owns a vine- 
yard. First, the land is taxed; there is a separate tax 
for irrigation, a third for the grapes, a fourth if you 
make wine from them. In all, a vineyard pays five 
taxes, and the government gets more than the owner. 
Why don't they emigrate ? ask my American 
friends. I have given one explanation. Pharaoh 
would not permit the Hebrews to go away, nor will 
the Sultan permit the Armenians. Another reason 
is that even if one has property, it is very hard to sell it. 
lurks have no money and Armenians no confidence. 
And to run away to a foreign country, whose language 
you do not know, wholly without money, is so desper- 
ate a remedy that most of them shrink from it. 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 31 



THE CLIMATE. 



Armenia, in my belief, is the healthiest country in 
the world; I do not say one of the healthiest, but the 
very healthiest. The climate is excellent all the year 
round, and, though the winters are severe, and much of 
the country is covered with snow, yet on account of the 
elevation — being several thousand feet above sea 
level, and in latitude 36*^ to 42^, or say from North 
Carolina to Massachusetts — the air is dry, pure, and 
agreeable, a preventative of disease, and conducive to 
longevity. The dread disease, consumption, does not 
exist there, while dyspeptics, if any are to be found, 
must have been imported. The perfect type of physi- 
cal vigor is to be seen there. Generally the Armen- 
ians are tall, powerful, and ruddy cheeked, full of en- 
durance and energy. Shrewd and enterprising they 
are, as reputed; but pure and honest too. They are 
longer lived than any other people. I have known 
Armenians of 115 and even 125 years of age; one old 
lady of my acquaintance at 115 was full of life and 
fun; I have seen her dance at wedding festivities like 
a girl of 15. An old gentleman of 125 was my neigh- 
bor; he worked on his farm as if he were not over 25. 
He could run and jump and was as gay as a boy, and 
greatly enjoyed children's society. If the people of 
Armenia could have the same government, the same 
encouragements, the same freedom from horrible fears, 
as the people of the United States, they would live 
many, many years longer than they do, till it might be 



32 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

necessary to kill tlie old folks in order to get rid of them. 
The most of the American missionaries in Armenia 
would be sure to echo these words. A returned mis- 
sionary gave a striking testimony to this effect. He 
was addressing the students of the Chicago Theological 
Seminary, and spoke as follows: — " Before I became 
a missionary I had very poor health ; most of my family 
died of hereditary consumption, and I was attacked by 
it. My physicians strongly protested against my 
becoming a missionary, saying that if I went to a 
foreign land I would grow worse, and probably die 
there. I paid no attention to this; I presumed they 
Avere right, but I was determined to go anyway, and if 
I must die, to die, in my chosen work. When I offered 
myself to the American Board, I was allotted to 
Armenia, and thither I went; my disease disappeared 
and now I am as healthy as any missionary in the 
world. You see how stout and vigorous I look, and 
I do not expect to die soon. But I feel sure that if I 
had stayed in America to save my life, I should have 
lost it before this time." He is still living in Armenia, 
and I hope will live to be over a hundred, as many of 
the natives do. 

The reader will smile at all this as the patriotic 
boastfulness of an Armenian, and say perhaps that he 
can make as fabulous declarations for his own land, 
wherever he may be; but such claims cannot be sub- 
stantiated by records and personal observations as 
these for Armenia can. Take the Bible ; some of the 
Patriarchs lived to be 700, 800, one even to 969, if 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 33 

indeed he ever died a natural death; some were taken 
up to heaven without knowing death; and all these 
long lives, as will be shown, were lived in Armenia. 
God's judgment was good. He did not create man 
in America, Europe, or India, or anywhere but in 
Armenia. He came down there from Heaven, planted 
the Garden of Eden there, and from the dust of that 
land created the first man. When the race had be- 
come sinful and only ISToah's family were preserved, the 
ark was not brought to rest on the Eockies, the Alps, 
or the Himalayas, but on Ararat in Armenia. 

Where was the Garden of Eden ? In my belief, 
around Lake Van, the highest lake, the largest lake, 
and the most picturesque lake in the Bible lands; its 
surrounding country, mountains, plains, flower gar- 
dens, and orchards, make it a most charming spot, and 
quite worthy to have been the seat of Paradise on 
earth. As the wickedest cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, 
were on the lowest, ugliest, and nastiest lake, the Dead 
Sea, it is natural that Paradise should be on the highest 
and loveliest one. A certain very learned Gospel 
minister, who desired to change my views respecting 
the Garden of Eden, declared that when the E'orth 
Pole was discovered the Garden of Eden would be. 
Some think it was in India, and there are about as 
many opinions as there are countries on the earth. 
The Bible, however, seems to be pretty clear about it 
and settles the question to the Armenian mind; we 
feel, therefore, that we cannot be far from the Scrip- 
tural descriptions. 
3 



34 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION. 

Both are as hard in Armenia as thej can be, short 
of impossibility. In the Russian section the roads 
are as good as in any part of Russia, and there are 
railroads; but in Persian and Turkish Armenia there 
are none of the latter, and the roads are very poor 
bridle-paths. A few years ago the government levied 
an extra tax to build '' Shosse Yolou " or macadam- 
ized roads for carriages; but most of the money 
was spent as usual, in a good time for the Turkish 
officials; the roads built were wretched, and riding 
over them in the springless carriages of the country 
is weariness and torture. Most of the traveling is 
done on horseback or muleback, while the transporta- 
tion of goods is almost entirely by camels and don- 
keys. 

An hour's journey in America in distance is a two 
days' journey in Armenia, and it must be accomplished 
on horseback, muleback, or foot; or perhaps in a 
wagon without springs. Almost all the horse and 
mule keepers are Turks, Kurds or Circassians, all 
Mohammedans and of the lowest types, — which does 
not increase either the comfort or the security of a 
journey. The tenders and drivers of animals are 
never of a very high order of men in any country; in 
Armenia they are specially vulgar, dirty, and some- 
times dangerous brutes. If you wish to travel with 
your family, you must arrange with the horse-keeper 
several days or even weeks beforehand ; if he is ready 
when the time comes, he calls at your house and tells 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 35 

you. If animals are used and the family large, bas- 
kets will be needed to put the children in; they are 
put on the animals like panniers, one on each side 
with the mother between. This is attended with more 
or less danger from accidents of various kinds, liable to 
occur on the unkept paths, which, rough in some 
places and horribly muddy in others, are used for 
roads. As in the case of the writer, who, when an 
infant, nearly lost his life before he could be pulled 
out of the mud into which he had fallen from his 
mother's arms, she being thrown from the stumbling" 
horse she was riding. 

A more modern way of travel is in springless 
carriages; which on the rough roads means racking 
your body horribly, bones, nerves, and all, into out- 
right and often severe suffering, a pain and fatigue 
which the traveler feels for a long time. At evening 
all travelers must go to a caravanserai or khan; often 
they are all huddled into a single room, men, women, 
and children, and the room is invariably filthy, and full 
of every kind of vermin. Such getting about is con- 
stant torment. 

There is no safety in traveling; Kurdish, Circas- 
sian, or Georgian brigands may meet you on the roads 
anywhere, and plunder, torture, or perhaps kill you. 
A few years ago, when traveling in Armenia with a 
company of about forty persons of both sexes, we 
came to a forested pass between two mountains. Sud- 
denly three men leaped out in front of us; they were 
Georgian brigands (Mohammedans), armed from top 



36 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

to toe. They stopped the caravan, picked out the 
rich persons and the Christians, and robbed them of 
all their valuables. They did not search the writer, 
probably supposing that as a minister he was too poor 
to be worth troubling. The women were dreadfully 
frightened, for the robbers declared that if they did not 
give up their earrings their ears would be cut off, and 
if they did not give up their bracelets their hands 
would be cut off. It can easily be imagined that they 
made haste to relinquish all their valuables. Such 
robberies take place every day in Armenia, for there 
is no protection or redress whatever; it is a matter of 
indifference at best, and probably of satisfaction, to 
the Sultan and his governors. 

The brigands are not the only robbers. Bear in 
mind that before any one in Armenia can travel at 
all, the government officials plunder him. He must 
get a passport first; I do not mean when he goes to 
foreign countries, for an Armenian is forbidden to go 
there at all, — all who are in other lands reached there 
by bribing the police and running aw^ay, — but when 
he goes to another place or town in Armenia itself, 
even if it is not over fifteen or twenty miles off. This 
passport will cost him from two to five dollars in 
bribes to the officials to let him have it. When he 
reaches his destination, the officials of the latter place 
must examine his passport, and they force him to pay 
for the examination, else they will not let him enter 
the town. So the Armenians are robbed at every 
step whether they travel or stay at home. 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA. 37 

Transportation of goods is even harder. Nearly 
all goods are carried on camels or donkeys which never 
go more than ten miles a day, and of course much less 
in bad spots; it takes months and even a year to get 
goods if they have to come very far, or may never be 
received. If an Armenian merchant orders goods 
from Constantinople, say 500 miles away, it takes 
five or six months at best from the time of sending the 
order to the time of receiving the goods, even if he 
ever gets them, no matter what condition they are in. 

The difficulties of transportation prevent the ex- 
port, to any extent, of Armenian products to foreign 
countries, and even between neighboring cities ex- 
change of supplies is well-nigh impossible. As 
all through the East, there is often famine in one 
part of Armenia, while there is plenty in other parts; 
one city may be hungry while another is feasting ; one 
willing to pay any price but unable to buy, another 
eager to sell but with no one to sell to ; because there 
is no way to transport the grain or produce. Yet good 
highways are not built because the officials embezzle 
the funds, railroads are not built because it would 
hinder the Sultan from crushing the people. 

It may be asked, Are there no railroads in Turkey ? 
and will not the Sultan permit them, and are there not 
Armenians in the places along their route ? Yes, 
there are a few short lines; one from Constantinople 
to Adrianople, one from Constantinople to Angora, 
one from Smyrna to Aiden, one from Mersina to 
Adana, one from Joppa to Jerusalem. I think there 



38 AHMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

is also one lately built from Beirout to Damascus. The 
length of the whole system is not over 1,000 miles, 
one of them is in Europe, part of them are tourist 
lines, along routes that streams of Europeans would 
traverse anyway. Some of them were built before 
the time of the present Sultan ; some of them are near 
the seashore,, where there are some Armenian emi- 
grants; but none of these roads are in Armenia. 

Plenty of money has always been available from 
European and even Armenian sources to build rail- 
roads; syndicates and private capitalists have tried 
again and again to get permission to build them; but 
the Sultan will not grant it, for it runs counter to his 
fixed policy of isolating the Armenians, to make their 
oppression or destruction easier. Railroads would 
mean not only prosperity and strength for the people, 
but easy gathering and sending out of news to the 
world, easy bringing of help from the world, lighting 
up the dark places, and exposing the horrors of the 
hell now existing. When they are built, commerce 
will follow; Europeans will flock in, and a new era 
dawn. Who are the commercial class ? The Armen- 
ian Christians or Europeans; not a Turk or a Kurd 
among them. Commerce means, then, the increase 
of the Christian population ; wealth, greatness, security 
for the Armenians ; finally freedom from the Ottoman 
power. Therefore that power forbids any improve- 
ment of the backward conditions. 



II. 

THE PEOPLE OF AEMENIA. 

THEIR LINEAGE. 

Who are the Armenians ? The average Ameri- 
can knows very little about them, while few even 
of the educated classes have much knowledge of the 
race or its history. Many people regard them as bar- 
barians, partially Christianized. Some think them of 
Chinese type ; most often they are considered as Turks 
because the chief portion of Armenia is part of the 
Turkish Empire; every Armenian feels justly indig- 
nant at the latter classification. The old story applies 
of the Irishman who refused to consider himself an 
American though born in America, on the ground that 
^' being born in a stable did not make one a horse " ; we 
know that the Scotch and English in Ireland do not 
consider themselves Irish ; we know it would be worse 
than absurd to call the English children born in India 
Hindoos. When the missionaries of the American 
Board first went to Turkey, the people there supposed 
from the name American, that they must be Indians, 
and crowded to see ;tliem out of curiosity, but they 
were much surprised and probably somewhat disap- 
pointed when they found them very like themselves. 
In the same way, being born in Turkish Armenia 

does not make one a Turk. The Turks are one race, 

(39) 



40 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the Armenians a totally different one, and different in 
the very foundation typa^ The Turks are Turanian, 
the Armenians Aryan. The Turks belong to the 
Turko-Tataric stock; they are kinsmen of the Tartars. 
The primal origin of the Armenians will be found 
in Genesis, Chapter 10, — from Togarmah, the son of 
Gomer, the son of Japheth; the Armenians are some- 
times called the Sons of Togarmah. Togarmah had 
a son named Haig (the Armenian records tell us), and 
Armenians call themselves Haigian or Haigazian from 
him; and the land of Armenia is called Hayasdan or 
the land of Haig. He was a powerful warrior and 
the founder of the Armenian Kingdom, which began 
2350 B. C., and ended with Levon YL, 1375 A. D.; 
thus lasting 3725 years, though with intervals of ex- 
tinction. Their own kings did not always reign in 
Armenia; sometimes other nations ruled over it; 
by way of compensation, sometimes the Armenians 
ruled over other nations. The people never call them- 
selves Armenians, or their country Armenia; they use 
the name simply for the sake of foreigners. But 
where did the name come from ? Of course as with 
many very old ones, the origin is somewhat a matter 
of guesswork. Some derive it from the great King, 
Aram, the seventh from Haig; some from Armerag 
or Armen, the eldest son of Haig,— the more probable 
supposition of the two; still others connect it with the 
Hebrew Aram (Aramea), the district of Mesopotamia 
and ISTorth Syria, and derive both from a word mean- 
ing " man,'' most old names of nations having meant 



THE PEOPLE OF ARMENIA. 41 

that originally. Whatever its origin, it is certain that 
the Armenians are a very ancient nation, — as ancient 
as the Assyrians or Persians. 

The people belong to the stock formerly known as 
Japhetic, later as Caucasian (from the Caucasus Moun- 
tains on the north of Armenia), then as Indo-Euro- 
pean, now as Aryan; the most advanced type of man- 
kind, and the most physically beautiful. And what 
are the people of the United States ? Hamitic or 
[N^egroid ? Of course not. Semitic (Arab, Jew) ? 
Certainly not. They are Japhetic or Aryan too — 
exactly the same as the Armenians. Indeed, the type 
of face is the same, and the type of character. The 
Armenians are often called the Anglo-Saxons of the 
East; they are the same blood, features, religion, and 
civilization as those of the West, and are true brothers 
and sisters, though the opportunities of the latter have 
been greater; however, the ancestors of the former 
w^ere Christians in Asia before those of the latter were 
in Europe, and they kept the mother land faithfully 
while the others ran away. .^~Z. 

THEIR LANGUAGE. 

The tongue spoken by the Armenians is one of the 
great family now known as the Aryan languages ; cer- 
tainly one of the oldest of them if there is any dif- 
ference in the ages of the different branches, though 
that really means nothing. It has no relation what- 
ever to the Semitic tongues like Chaldee or Phoenician, 
nor the Tataric tongues of Scythia, though those were 



42 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

in the earlier ages its nearest neighbors, while it is 
blood brother to languages so widely separated as Irish 
on the west and Hindoo on the east, to Gothic and 
Greek, Lithuanian and Latin. Linguists think the 
whole Aryan family much younger than the Semitic 
or the Turko-Tataric or the Mongoloid, but this would 
not be granted by the Armenians witliout much more 
solid proof than has yet been brought forward. They 
claim first that Noah and his sons lived in Armenia, 
which has been shown must be true ; second, that they 
spoke the Armenian language, which therefore was 
the very oldest. Some of the arguments in favor of 
this are as follows :— ^ In Armenia, near Mt. Ararat, 
are places with Armenian names, which have preserved 
the same names from the time of !Noah till now. 
^N^orth of Ararat is a city named Erivan, which in 
Armenian means " appearance " ; after I^oah's ark 
rested on the mountain, the first place he saw was Eri- 
van. Another city southeast of Ararat is called 
Nakhichevan, which in Armenian means " the first 
station " ; it was the first stopping-place of Noah when 
he came out of the ark. The first chief or King of 
the Armenians, Haig, built a village and called it Hark, 
which means " fathers,'' as he was the father of the 
Armenians; and when Haig fought with Belus and 
killed him, the place was called Kereznank, meaning 
" grave '' or " graves." There are many such places 
in Armenia, where the names have always been the 
same and are certainly Armenian now, indicating that 
the language has always been the same; here are a 



THE PEOPLE OF ARMENIA. 43 

few: Arakaz, Armavir, Sliirag, Ararat. The latter 
took its name from Ara, the Armenian king who was 
the son of Aram, that great King Avho rnled in Armenia 
for fifty years; the name means " lofty " or ^' holy." 
These instances show the antiquity of the language; 
but even if they were not sufficient, it would not affect 
the antiquity of the race. Many very old races speak 
languages much less old. The mass of people in Tus- 
cany are Etruscans, a race which some people hold to 
be much older than the whole Aryan family ; but they 
speak Italian, a very modern tongue. A large part 
of the Basques, believed by many scientists to be the 
oldest race in Europe, older even than the Tuscans, 
speak Spanish, much more modern even than Italian. 
So that it does not follow that the Armenian race, 
aside from the language, may not be the oldest in the 
world. 

The old Armenian classic language is very dif- 
ficult, from the number of particles and participles in 
it; but modern Armenian is one of the easiest of lan- 
guages to learn, very regular in inflection and the spell- 
ing entirely phonetic. ' There are no exceptions or 
anomalies; for instance, to pluralize a noun, you in- 
variably add the particle ner or er. Thus, doon means 
^^ house;" the plural is dooner. Manch is "boy"; 
plural mancher; mannugh is "child," mannughner 
" children." The irregularities of English in these 
forms are too well-known to need illustration. The 
Armenian tongue is not only very regular, but very 
sweet, as well to the ears of foreigners as of natives. 



44 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

The testimony of " Sunset " Cox of Ohio is worth 
citing on this point. He was United States minister 
to Turkey some years ago, and as such presided at the 
Commencement Exercises of Robert College in Con- 
stantinople, that being the rule of the college. In 
his address on this occasion, he said he did not like 
Bulgarian (which is a Turkish tongue), because it had 
no sweetness ; — indeed, there is none in any of the 
Turkish languages, which are strong and emphatic, 
but harsh. But he said he liked Armenian ; it was the 
" sweetest language he ever heard." He went on to 
say that Adam talked Armenian in the Garden of 
Eden, proposed to Eve in that language, and succeeded 
in winning her heart ; in any other language he might 
not have done it. ^'^ It is the loveliest of tongues to 
make love to a woman in, and sure of success if the 
lady knows Armenian." I think he was right; but 
I think too, that next to Armenian, if not equal to it, is 
English. It sounds as sweetly to my ears as Armenian. 
I am an Armenian and my wife is an Armenian; but 
I proposed to her in English and was successful; not 
a sure test, perhaps, for any language is beautiful when 
words of love are uttered in it to ears that are willing 
to hear; and true love may be successful without any 
words at all. 



III. 

THE AEMENIAIST DY^N-ASTIES. 

According to the histories written by native his- 
torians from the old Armenian records. 

1. THE HAIGAZIAN DYNASTY. 

This dynasty began 2350 years before Christ, and 
ended in the time of Alexander the Great, 328 B. C. 
^o other recorded dynasty has so long an unbroken 
succession. 

2. THE ARSHAGOONIAN DYNASTY. 

This dynasty began 150 years B. C. and ended 
428 A. D. 

3. THE PAKRADOONIAN DYNASTY. 

This dynasty began 885 A. D. and ended 1045 
A. D. 

4. THE RUPENIAN DYNASTY. 

This dynasty began 1080 A. D. and ended 1375 

A. D. 

I shall try to show the condition of the Armenians 

under the rule of these different dynasties. 

(45) 



46 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

1. THE HAIGAZIAN DYNASTY. 

As already mentioned, Haig was the founder of 
the Armenian kingdom. He can scarcely be called a 
king, because in his time there was not a great Armen- 
ian nation; it was rather a tribe, and Haig was chief 
or governor. His position was like that of Abraham; 
what would now be called a sheikh; and like Abraham, 
he was a worshiper of the true God. 

Haig went from the highlands of Armenia to the 
plains of Shinar to help build the Tower of Babel. 
During the progress of the work, Belus, a warlike giant, 
descended from Ham, assumed to direct the enter- 
prise; Haig would not submit to this, and so returned 
to his own country. When the undertaking failed, 
all the tribes became scattered. To wreak vengeance 
on Haig, Belus resolved to go to Armenia, kill him in 
fight, and reign over his land. When he reached 
Armenia with his men on his errand, Haig went with 
a force to meet him ; a great battle took place and Haig 
wsls victorious, killing Belus and saving his country 
from being overwhelmed by the Hamites. His spirit 
was inherited by his posterity, though recent irresist- 
ible force and refusal of permission to bear arms may 
seem to make them submissive. They have battled 
stoutly against awful odds and with insufficient means 
for liberty and for freedom of thought and conscience; 
and millions have lost their lives for those principles; 
if they could now have arms and help, they would fight 
and die again for them. 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 47 

After the repulse of this Hamitic invasion, the 
Armenians increased so rapidly that Haig became a 
real king and took that title, thus actually founding 
the Armenian Kingship. They were free, lived long 
lives, and married only one wife each, — all favorable 
conditions for growth of population, — it need not be 
pointed out how slavery and polygamy check national 
growth. And they kept their faith in the one true 
God, as their ancestor iNToali did. 

Haig's son Armen succeeded his father, and 
greatly enlarged the kingdom. He subdued a large 
district northeast of Mt. Ararat and built cities and 
towns there. It is most likely the name Armenia 
comes from him. Some recent foreign writers have 
the impudence to say that there was no such king, but 
that his name was made up to account for that of 
Armenia; but the same records w^hich tell us of Haig, 
tell us of his son. After Armen we find his son Arma- 
iss, who built the city of Armavir. 

I will not enumerate all the names of the dynasty ; 
it would only be a tedious catalogue without profit. 
T will only mention the most noted ones, and those 
most interesting from their relations with the Jews 
or the heathen nations. 

One of the notable kings is Aram, the seventh in 
succession, and the greatest of Armenian conquerors. 
He raised and drilled an army of 50,000 men, whose 
efiiciency and his own military skill and energy are 
proved by his invading and conquering Media. He 
then invaded Assyria and conquered a part of that 



48 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

country. Xext lie marclied westward and subjugated 
some of the eastern portion of Asia Minor inhabited by 
the Greeks, — the later Cappadocia, along the Halys 
or Kizil-Irmak. Aram named this district the Hayas- 
dan, translated by the Romans as " Armenia Minor ''; 
which, oddly enough, in later times became Greater 
Armenia or Armenia Proper. Aram set over this 
province a governor named Mishag, with instructions 
to compel the Greeks to speak Armenian. Mishag 
built a city which exists in Cappadocia (Karamania) 
to-day, frightfully familiar from recent events. He 
called it by his own name; the Greeks mispronounced 
it as Mazag; the Roman emperors afterwards named 
it Caesarea, which the Turks corrupted into Kayseri, 
and several thousand Armenians were massacred there 
some months ago, which w^ill be described further on. 
The richest and most enterprising Armenians in the 
Turkish Empire are from Kayseri, and it is a leading 
missionary station of the American Board. The 
writer preached there and in that vicinity for four 
years. 

The enormous growth of the Armenian Kingdom 
under Aram, and its conquest of part of Assyria, 
excited the alarm of the Assyrian king, Mnos. I^ot 
feeling strong enough to engage in open warfare with 
him, he thought to compass his destruction by winning 
his friendship and then putting him out of the way, 
and, as a first step, sent him a costly jeweled crown. 
The intrigue failed, however, and Aram lived to a 
great age, reigning fifty years. 




o 



< 
> 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 49 

Aram was succeeded by his son Ara, called " Ara 
the Beautiful." The fame of his beauty went abroad 
through the world; the Assyrian queen Semiramis 
was so enchanted by the sight of his person that she 
fell madly in love and proposed marriage to him, but 
he refused her. This military Amazon was not to 
be balked so. She resolved to marry him by force, 
and came with a great army to Armenia to capture 
the prize; but he was killed in the war, and she took 
possession of the country, with which she was so 
charmed that she decided to remain; she removed the 
capital of the enlarged Assyrian Kingdom to the lovely 
shores of Lake Van, erecting a palace there for her- 
self, and building on the eastern side a city named 
" Shamiramaguerd " (built by Semiramis). Many 
years later, a king of the TIaigazian Dynasty whose 
name was Yan rebuilt it and called it after himself. 
This was the present city of Yan, another great center 
of the American Board and of Turkish horrors. 

The next great interesting event was in 710 B. C. 
when Sennacherib of Assyria was assassinated by his 
two sons, Adramelich and Sharezer, who escaped into 
Armenia. The king of Armenia at this time was 
Sgayorti, which means " son of a giant." He received 
the sons of Sennacherib with gTcat kindness; they 
married Armenian women, and remained in the coun- 
try till their death. Their descendants were great 
Armenian princes, bearing the titles Prince Arziroo- 
nian and Prince Kinoonian. 

Armenia comes to view again in connection with 
4 



50 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Biblical history in tlie capture of Jerusalem by Nebu- 
chadnezzar, 600 B. C, and the deportation of the 
Judean people; the Armenian king, Hurachia, was 
one of his allies in the siege, and on returning to 
Armenia carried with him a Hebrew prince named 
Shampad. This was a very intelligent man, and made 
himself greatly loved and esteemed by the Armenians; 
a sort of Daniel or Joseph. He, too, married an Ar- 
menian noblewoman, and his descendants became the 
very foremost of the noble families and ecclesiastical 
functionaries of the country, crowning the kings on 
occasion. They were called Pakradoonian Princes, 
and at last one of them founded the third dynasty 
of Armenian kings, the Pakradoonian. Though the 
nation is Aryan, there is noble Hebrew (Semitic) blood 
mixed with it. 

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Haigaz- 
ian Dynasty comes just before the end; the time of 
Dikran or Tigranes I. In him both wisdom and 
valor were combined to an eminent degree. As soon 
as he succeeded his father, Yerevant, he instituted 
great reforms to improve the state of the country. He 
not only enlarged it by conquest, but he greatly im- 
proved public education and morals, removed obstruc- 
tions to international commerce, introduced naviga- 
tion on the lakes and rivers, encouraged cultivation; 
trade flourished, every acre of ground was tilled, the 
country was alive with energy and hope. This vigor 
and prosperity aroused the envy of Ashdahag, King 
of Media; he resolved to kill Dikran, and to throw 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 51 

him off his guard married his sister, Princess Dik- 
ranoohi. A plot to murder Dikran was then set on 
foot; the princess learned of it, warned her brother, 
whom she loved, and ran away. Dikran collected an 
army, made a rapid march to Media, surprised and 
slew Ashdahag, and brought back a vast amount of 
spoils in captives and goods. He built a fine city on 
the banks of the Tigris, and called it Dikranagerd, the 
city of Dikran; it was afterwards the residence of the 
sister who had saved his life. It is now called by the 
Turks Diarbekr, and was the scene of a frightful mas- 
sacre a few months since. The most important politi- 
cal achievement of his life was assisting Cyrus in the 
capture of Babylon 538 B. C; the two monarchs 
were very friendly, and Dikran's Armenian army was 
a chief factor in the conquest. In Jeremiah's proph- 
ecy of the capture, about a century before it occurred, 
he mentions the Armenian Kingdom as one of the 
actors: " The Kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ash- 
chenaz." (Jer. li. 27.) 

After Dikran's death his son Yahakn succeeded 
him; he was considered a god by the people, and wor- 
shiped as such through a monument after his death. 
Thus far the people had mostly worshiped the one true 
God, but from this time they relapsed into heathenism 
for a while on account of the influences pressing on 
them from outside. The last king of the Haigazian 
Dynasty was Vahe. When Alexander the Great in- 
vaded Persia, Yahe went to Darius' help with 40,000 
infantry and 7,000 cavalry; but Alexander conquered 



52 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

first Darius and then Valie (328 B. C), and annexed 
both Persia and Armenia. Thus came to an end the 
first Armenian dynasty, after an existence of 1922 
years. 

ARSHAGOONIAN OR ARSACID DYNASTY. 

This dynasty began not far from 150 B. C, — 
close to the time when Carthage was utterly destroyed, 
and Greece was finally subjugated; it ended 428 A. D., 
about half a century before the extinction of the West- 
ern Koman Empire, and about the time Genseric and 
his Yandals conquered Africa. It is by far the most 
famous of the Armenian royal houses; for it embraces 
the very heart of the classic times with which all ed- 
ucated people are familiar, it brings us perpetually in 
contact with the most brilliant and best-known of 
classic names, it is sprinkled itself with names tower- 
ing up familiar and powerful, even among the Greek 
and Roman magnates; and, in spite of political ups and 
downs, it covers a time of immense expansion for the 
Armenian people, of a firmly rooted growth in num- 
bers, wealth, and consciousness of national unity, 
which has enabled the nation to survive and keep its 
united being through many centuries of dismember- 
ment, impoverishment, massacre, and attempts at out- 
right extermination again and again. More thaji all, 
it covers the time of Jesus Christ, and the conversion 
of Armenia to his religion, first of all the nations of 
the earth, as by its history and traditions it ought to 
have been. 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 53 

During the time between the disappearance of 
the line of Haig and the rise of the line of Arshag, 
Armenia was not by any means wholly without kings 
of its own; but it was mostly a dependency. 

Alexander the Great, after his conquest, put a 
native governor named Mihran over it; but on Alex- 
ander's death, five years later (323 B. C), his generals 
partitioned the Macedonian Empire among themselves, 
and Armenia fell to Xeoptolemus. His government 
was at once so oppressive, and so contemptuous of 
native feeling (he and his court were Greeks, and de- 
spised all Asiatics), that the people rose and drove him 
out in 317, under the lead of one Arduat (Ardvates), 
who remained their king for thirty-three years; but 
he left no successor, and Armenia was conquered by 
and became part of the great Syrian Empire founded 
by Seleucus. It remained so in the main for about 
three quarters of a century, though the eastern part 
(Kurdistan), fell under the Parthian kings. Armenia 
was never a very quiet province, however, and its re- 
volts against the Syrian satraps kept it much of the 
time in a half -anarchic state. About 210 B. C. An- 
tiochus the Great quelled one of these uprisings, and 
divided the country into Greater and Lesser Armenia 
(whose boundaries I have described), putting a separate 
deputy over each. But after his crushing defeat by 
the Romans at Magnesia in 189 B. C, and having to 
buy peace by giving up everything beyond the Halys, 
each governor proclaimed his province an independ- 
ent kingdom. Zadriades (Zadreh), in Lesser Armenia 



54 ARI^IENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

founded a family wliich kept their hold for almost 
exactly a century, when Tigranes II once more united 
the two Armenias. Artaxias (Ar dashes), in Greater 
A rmenia was powerful as long as he lived, and sheltered 
Hannibal at his court wdien the Romans had set a 
price on the head of their great foe; but about the 
middle of the century his family was dispossessed by 
Mithridates of Parthia, who conquered the country. 
The family name of this Parthian house was Arshag, 
rendered by the Greeks Arsakes, spelled by the Ro- 
mans Arsaces. Mithridates made Greater Armenia 
a kingdom for his brother Wagh-arshag (Yal-arsaces), 
whose family remained in succession to the throne, 
though sometimes eclipsed for long periods from actual 
occupation of it, for six hundred years. The new king 
had the great hereditary ability both in war and states- 
manship which characterized the whole Arsacid line, 
and the Mithridates in particular, and its great knowl- 
edge of men. He knew an able man when he saAV 
him, and liked to raise him up; he promoted industry 
and built cities; he reformed the system of laws and 
their administration as well. 

The new line did not escape the usual fate of 
Eastern dynasties, of having disputes over the succes- 
sion, in which their neighbors interfered. In 94 B. 
C, Dikran or Tigranes II (great-grandson of Wagh- 
Arshag), owed his possession of the throne of Greater 
Armenia to his third cousin, Mithridates II (the 
Great), of Parthia, who exacted seventy Armenian 
valleys as the price ; probably part of Kurdistan. Ti- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 55 

granes, however, paid no more blood-money to any- 
body when once on the throne. On the contrary, he 
began at once to overrun and annex the neighboring 
states. He first conquered Lesser Armenia, and made 
it one with its sister again ; then part of Syria, so long 
• the mistress of his own state ; then, in a series of wars 
with the weak successors of Mithridates, he half de- 
stroyed the Parthian Empire itself, not only recovering 
the seventy valleys he had paid for his throne, but con- 
quering Media, and annexing Mesopotamia and Adia- 
bene. After these conquests he called himself " King 
of Kings '' (that is, emperor, king with other kings 
under him), which title the Parthian kings had 
claimed theretofore. He would probably have ended 
by mastering and restoring the unity of the old Seleu- 
cid Kingdom in its widest ex;tent, the whole heart of 
Western Asia, had he not in an evil hour been in- 
duced by that reckless old fighter, his father-in-law, 
Mithridates of Pontus, to join him in war against the 
Romans. Tigranes' own son had quarreled with him, 
and taken refuge with the King of Parthia, whose 
daughter he married; and now offered to guide his 
father-in-law into Armenia if he would invade it as the 
ally of the Romans. This was done, and Tigranes 
the elder had to fly to the mountains ; but the Parthian 
king grew tired of the siege of rock castles, and went 
home, leaving his son-in-law to carry on operations with 
part of the army. The great Armenian king at once 
broke loose and annihilated the forces of his son, who 
fled to Pompey, just invading Armenia with the Ro- 



56 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

man army. Even the great Tigranes was no match for 
Kome, and had to surrender. Pompey was not harsh 
with him, but left him Armenia (except Sophene and 
Gordyene, which were made into a kingdom for his 
son), and his Parthian conquests; even going so far 
as to send a Poman division to wrest these from the 
Parthian king, who had re-conquered them on Ti- 
granes' defeat, and restore them to the latter. On the 
departure of Pompey the Parthian once more re- 
claimed them, but a compromise was finally made. 
Phraates of Parthia, however, resumed once more the 
title of ^' King of Kings.'' Tigranes remained the 
ally of the Romans till his death in 55 B. C. ; a reign 
of thirty-nine years, on the whole of great glory and 
usefulness. 

He was succeeded by his son, Artavasdes (Ardvash) 
II, who inherited that most dreadful of legacies, a 
place between the hammer and the anvil. For the 
next quarter of a century the Romans, and the steadily 
growing and consolidating power of the Parthian Em- 
pire were alternately irresistible in Eastern Anatolia; 
it was impossible to avoid taking sides, for neutrality 
meant invasion by one party or the other; and which- 
ever side he took he was sure to be punished for as soon 
as the other came uppermost. If Artavasdes had been 
as dexterous as Alexius Comnenus himself, he could 
hardly have escaped ruin; that he kept his throne for 
over twenty years is proof that he was not unworthy of 
his father. First came the invasion of Parthia by 
Crassus; Artavasdes, faithful to his father's Roman 



THE ARMENLiN DYNASTIES. 57 

allegknce; asked him to make tlie invasion by 
way ol Armenia, and offered to help him. Crassus 
refused, but the Parthian king, Orodes, invaded Ar- 
menia; however, he made peace, and betrothed his 
eldest son, Pacorus, to Artavasdes' daughter, just be- 
fore news was brought him of the annihilation of 
Crassus' army, guaranteed by Crassus' severed head 
and hand. The civil wars at Rome for years to come 
broke the Roman power, and the Parthians (with the 
good-will of the inhabitants, who detested the Roman 
proconsuls), swept westward, compelled submission or 
alliance from all the countries to the Taurus, and even 
annexed all Syria for a time, just as seven centuries 
later the Syrians, from hate of the Byzantine gover- 
nors, gave up their cities to the Saracens. But the 
Roman power once more rallied; the Parthians were 
driven out of Syria, and Pacorus was killed ; the aged 
Orodes, under whom the Parthian Empire proper 
reached its pinnacle, died, leaving the throne to 
one of those jealous murderous despots so familiar 
in Eastern history, who made a general slaughter of 
his brothers, and even murdered his son, to remove 
any possible leader of a revolt, and Artavasdes once 
more returned to the Roman alliance. In the year 
36 A. D., Mark Antony undertook the task Crassus 
had so terribly failed in seventeen years before, of 
striking at the heart of Parthia; but this time the in- 
vasion was by way of Armenia. It was almost as 
frightful a disaster as the former; a third of the army 
of 100,000 men was destroyed by the enemy, 8,000 



58 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

died of cold and storm in the Armenian mouctains, 
the wounded died in enormous numbers; but tZiat Ar- 
tavasdes let the army winter in his country it would 
have perished as completely as Crassus' did. In spite 
of this, the Romans, wanting a scapegoat, laid the 
whole blame on Artavasdes, without a sKadow of rea- 
son that can be shown. It was the Zast time for a 
century and a half that the Romans attacked Parthia. 
In default of that plunder, they resolved to have Ar- 
menia, and a couple of years later, in the year 33 A. D., 
they seized Artavasdes by treachery, and occupied the 
country. The Parthians at once took up the cause 
of his son, Artaxes, and made war on the Romans 
to seat him on the throne; and when the Roman troops 
were withdrawn to help Antony's cause, which was lost 
in the battle of Actium, the Parthians overran Ar- 
menia, and killed all the Romans in the country, and 
made their candidate king as Artaxes II. This was 
in 30 B. C, and in the same year his father, Artavas- 
des, who had been carried to Alexandria by An- 
tony, was beheaded by Cleopatra. But the very next 
year the worthless tyrant Phraates of Parthia was 
driven from the throne by a rebellion, and Artaxes 
made peace with Rome. 

The history of Artavasdes' reign is in essence the 
history of the next four centuries, save that the results 
were incomparably worse. We have been dealing 
with a time at least of steady, single-handed govern- 
ment, of able rulers either inside or outside, of some 
sort of ability to keep the civil structure of the eoun- 



/ 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 59 

try from breaking to pieces; but even tliat disappears 
over long periods in the early centuries of the Roman , 
Empire. One great .secret of Armenia's misery dur- 
ing these ages of woe — indeed, to a large extent dur- 
ing all the ages since — lies in the fact that she is a 
borderland; a buffer between great states, and indeed 
between great natural divisions of climate and society. 
She is the boundary between semi-tropic Central 
Asia and temperate Eastern Europe, touching the 
land of the fig and the silk-worm on the one 
side, and that of the apple and the mountain 
goat on the other; between Scythian steppes and 
Syrian deserts. In these earlier ages she was 
fought for between east, west, and south, — Par- 
thia, Rome, and a Syro-Egyptian power of some 
sort; in these days divided between east, west, and 
north, — Persia the successor of Parthia, Turkey the 
successor of Rome, while the southern power is ages 
dead, and a great northern power, Russia, has grown 
up in the steppes. Had Armenia been smaller, or 
more level, she would have perished without a strug- 
gle, perhaps rather would never have existed ; but her 
territory is so large and so defensible that her history 
could have been predicted, — final dismemberment be- 
tween great states surrounding her, yet not without 
ages of desperate struggle. She was not large enough 
to be permanently the seat of empire; she was far too 
large for either rival to let pass wholly into the hands 
of the other — so she was pulled to pieces. But she 



60 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

wanted to control lier own destinj, and made a long and 
heroic figlit before being dismembered. 

To write the history of the next few centuries 
would tire out all my readers, and would not do any 
good; it was a long duel between Rome and Persia 
for the ownership of Armenia, in which the prosperity 
and happiness of their unhappy foot-ball nearly per- 
ished. Almost the whole foreign policy of Parthia 
was to control, or to have a paramount influence in 
Armenia ; almost the whole foreign policy of Rome in 
the East was to do the same thing. For nearly a 
century following Artavasdes' deposition, though the 
Romans professed to govern the country and the 
Parthiaris sometimes held it, and both sides repeatedly 
put kings on its throne, it w^as actually in a state of pure 
anarchy. Every great family, seeing it must depend 
on its own strength for preservation, extended its rule 
over as wide a district as would submit; nearly two 
hundred houses acted with perfect independence of 
each other, and of the nominal government, and some 
of them established principalities of considerable size. 
After this, though the country w^as for century after 
century just the same shuttlecock between the rival 
states, the feudal anarchy was somewhat reduced, the 
turbulent nobility better held in check, but it was im- 
possible that there should be really firm and orderly 
government w^hen a king could not be secure of his 
throne for a year on one side or the other, and dared 
not render his powerful subjects disaffected by making 
them obey the laws. TV^e may be sure that the gov- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 61 

ernment was really an oligarchy under the forms of 
a monarchy, and even the title " King of Armenia '' 
during this period must not be taken to mean too much. 
There were sometimes separate kings of Upper and 
Lower Armenia, one under Roman, and one under 
Parthian influence; the independent princes often 
made head against both, and outlying principalities, 
like those of Osrhoene and Gordyene probably got 
hold of more or less Armenian territory in the melee. 
No king of Armenia after Tigranes ever held sway 
over all of old Armenia for any length of time, if at 
all. But any king who got an acknowledged position 
at all was invariably an Arshagoonian ; the people con- 
sidered that line the only rightful kings. Artavasdes 
III, whom the Romans seated in power just before the 
birth of Christ; Tigranes TV, who expelled him by 
Parthian aid the year of Christ's birth; Yonones, 
a deposed Parthian king, who got himself chosen king 
as the Roman favorite in 16 A. D., but was persuaded 
by Tiberius to retire; Arsaces, son of the king of Par- 
thia, assassinated by the king of Iberia whose brother 
was the Roman candidate, about the time of the 
crucifixion; Ervand, who made himself master of the 
land after a fashion, in 58; Dertad (Tiridates), 
set up by the Parthians in 52, and acknowledged by 
the Romans in 66; Exedarus (Eshdir ?) son of the 
Parthian king, given the throne with Roman consent 
about 100, pulled down by his uncle in 114, resulting in 
the conquest of the country by Trajan ; Sohaemus, set 
up by the Romans about 150, dethroned by the Par- 



62 AKMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

thians in 162 in favor of another Arsacid, restored by 
the Romans in 164; and the other fleeting monarchs 
of this long nightmare were all of the same line of 
Arshag, which in Armenia survived for over two 
centuries its brother line in Parthia, the last of whom, 
Ardvan (Artabanus), was slain in battle in 224 by Ar- 
dashir (Artaxerxes), first of the Sassanian house, and 
founder of the Persian Empire. But I must go back 
a little. 

The most important event in the history of any na- 
tion is its conversion to Christianity, and therefore we 
wish to know when the Armenians first came to believe 
in Christ, and how it came about. Of course it did 
not come all at once; but it came very early, and the 
story of the first converts is very curious. According 
to the Armenian church history, and also the great 
Christian father Eusebius, it came through King Ab- 
gar or Apkar (Abgarus), the fifteenth king of the little 
kingdom of Osrhoene, in northern Mesopotamia, whose 
capital was the fiourishing city of Edessa, now Oorfa; 
it lay next the southern border of Armenia. 

The church history gives the following account: 

^^ The origin of Christianity in Armenia dates 
from the time of its king Abgar, who reigned at the 
beginning of the Christian era; he had his seat of gov- 
ernment in the city of Edessa, and was tributary to the 
Romans. 

" Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Judea, was hostile 
to king Abgar, but was unable to injure him except by 
exciting' the Romans against him. He therefore ac- 
cused him falsely, to the Emperor Tiberius, of rebel- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 63 

lious projects. King Abgar, on being made ac- 
quainted with this accusation, hastened to send mes- 
sengers to the Roman general Marinus, then governor 
of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, for the purpose of 
vindicating himself. During their stay in Palestine 
these messengers — among whom was Anane, Ab- 
gar's confidant — hearing of the wonders that were 
wrought by our Saviour, determined to visit Jerusa- 
lem, in order to gratify their curiosity. 

" When, therefore, their mission was concluded, 
they proceeded thither and were filled with wonder at 
witnessing the miracles performed by Jesus our Lord. 

" On returning to Armenia they related all the par- 
ticulars to their master. Abgar, after having listened 
to their narrative, became satisfied that Jesus was the 
son of God, and immediately wrote to him as fol- 
lows: 

" ^ Abgar, son of Arsham, to Jesus, the great 
healer, who has appeared in the country of Judea at 
the city of Jerusalem — greeting Lord, — I have heard 
that thou dost not heal by medicines but only through 
the Word ; that thou makest the blind to see, the lame 
to walk; that thou cleansest the lepers and makest the 
deaf to hear; that thou castest out devils, raiseth the 
dead, and healest through the word only. ^o sooner 
had the great miracles that thou performest been re- 
lated to me, than I reflected, and now believe that thou 
art God and the son of God, descended from heaven 
to perform these acts of beneficence. For this reason 
I have written thee this letter, to pray thee to come 
to me, that I may adore thee and be healed of my 
sickness by thee, according to my faith in thy power, 
Moreover, I have heard that the Jews murmur against 
thee, and seek to slay thee. I pray thee, therefore, 
come to me ; I have a good little city, which is enough 



64 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

for both of us, and there we can peaceably live to- 
gether.' " 

The messengers sent with the letter were instructed 
to offer sacrifices for the King at the temple in Jerusa- 
lem; and one of them was a painter, who was to make 
a portrait of the Saviour, that if he would not come, 
the king might at least have his features. Jesus re- 
ceived the letter joyfully, — as it was the day of his 
triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the messengers did 
not venture to approach him, and it was taken to him 
by the apostles Philip and Andrew, — and dictated the 
following answer to the apostle Thomas: 

^' Blessed be he who believes in me without having 
seen me ; for thus it is written of me : Those who see 
me shall not believe in me; and those who do not see 
me, they shall believe and be saved. Inasmuch as 
you have wTitten to me to go to you, know that it is 
necessary I should fulfill here all for which I 
have been sent. And when I shall have done so, I 
shall ascend to Him who sent me ; and then I will send 
you one of my disciples, who shall remove your pain, 
and shall give life to you and those around you." 

The painter could not execute his order on account 
of the multitude; the Saviour at last noticed him, and 
causing him to approach, passed a handkerchief over 
his face and miraculously imprinted on it a perfect like- 
ness of his countenance, and then gave it to him, and 
bade him take it to his master as a reward for his 
faith. The king received the letter and portrait with 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 65 

great joy, and put them in safe custody, and awaited 
the fulfillment of our Lord's promise. 

After the Ascension, Thomas, the disciple, sent 
Thaddeus, one of the seventy, to Abgar, as our Lord 
had directed. Thaddeus went to Tobias, a prince of 
the Pakradoonian tribe, and consequently a Jew by 
blood, who received the apostle into his house, and be- 
came a believer. Thaddeus then began to perform 
many miracles upon sick people, and his fame being 
spread throughout the city, reached King Abgar, who 
sent for Prince Tobias and desired him to bring the 
apostle to him. This was done, and Thaddeus healed 
the king in his sickness, and instructed him in the 
faith. He did likewise to all the people of the city, 
and baptized them, together with the king and his 
court. All the temples dedicated to idols were shut 
up, and a large church was built. Thaddeus then 
created a bishop to rule the new congregation, select- 
ing a silk-mercer, the king's cap-maker, for that of- 
fice, and giving him the name of Adde. It is related 
that upon the principal gate of Edessa was the statue of 
a Greek idol, which all who entered the city were 
obliged to reverence. King Abgar ordered this to be 
taken away, and placed in its stead the sacred portrait 
of our Lord, with this inscription: " Christ God, he 
who hopes in thee is not deceived in his hope;" at 
the same time ordering all those who entered the city 
to give it divine honor. This conversion of King 
Abgar and of the Edessians took place in the thirtieth 



QQ ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

year of the Vulgar Era, or in the thirty-third year 
after the birth of Christ. 

Shortly after, Thaddeus, desiring to spread the 
light of the Gospel in other parts of the country, went 
to Inner Armenia to visit Sanadrug, who then resided 
in the province of Shavarshan or Ardaz. Sanadrug 
soon became a Christian and was baptized, together 
with his daughter Santukht, and a great number of 
the chiefs and common people. Here Thaddeus also 
consecrated a bishop, named Zachariah, and then pro- 
ceeded to Upper Armenia; but finding the people there 
unwilling to listen to his preaching, he left them and 
went to the country of the Aghuans. 

Abgar, in his zeal for the faith he had just em- 
braced, wrote to the Emperor Tiberius in favor of 
Christ, informing him how the Jews unjustly cru- 
cified him, exhorting him at the same time to believe 
and command others to adore the Saviour. Many let- 
ters passed between the two monarchs on the subject 
of his divine mission. He also wrote to Ardashes, 
king of Persia, and to his son jN^erseh, the young king 
of Assyria, exhorting them to become believers in 
Christ. However, before he received replies to these, 
he died, in the third year of his conversion to Chris- 
tianity. 

His death seemed at first to have undone all his 
work. His son Anane apostatized and tried to make 
his people do the same ; he reopened the heathen tem- 
ples, resumed the public worship of the idols, and 
ordered the sacred handkerchief removed from the 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 67 

city gate. Adde the bishop walled up the latter. The 
king ordered the bishop to make a diadem for him as 
he had for his father; the bishop refused to make one 
for a head that would not bow to Christ, and the king 
had the bishop's feet cut off while he was preaching, 
causing his death, — the first Christian martyr on 
record. By a just retribution, the savage king met 
his own death by a marble pillar in his palace fall- 
ing on him and breaking his legs. 

Meantime Abgar's nephew, Sanadrug, had set up 
his standard in Shavarshan or Ardaz, proclaiming 
himself king of Armenia, — one of the countless chief- 
tains who took advantage of Armenian anarchy to carve 
out principalities for themselves. On the death of 
Anane he marched to Edessa, claiming it as his own 
inheritance. The people admitted him on his oath 
not to harm them; but once inside he massacred all 
the males of the house of Abgar. He spared his aunt, 
Queen Helena, Abgar's widow, who became widely 
famed as a Christian philanthropist, and w^as buried 
with great pomp before one of the gates of Jerusalem, 
where a splendid mausoleum was erected over her re- 
mains. He himself had apostatized, and ordered all 
his people to do likewise ; but most of them refused to 
obey, and Thaddeus, hearing of it at Caesarea, in Cap- 
padocia, started for Edessa to reconvert him. On his 
way he fell in with a Roman embassy to Sanadrug, 
composed of five patricians headed by one Chrysos ; he 
converted and baptized them all, conferred priest's or- 
ders on Chrysos, and they gave up all their property 



68 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

and became preachers of Christ. They were known 
as foUow^ers of Chrysos, and all eventually obtained 
the crown of martyrdom. 

On the news of these conversions, Sanadnig in- 
vited Thaddeus to Shavarshan; on his arrival he put 
him to death, and with him his own daughter, San- 
tukht, who would not give up her faith in Christ. At 
her death various miracles were wrought, which caused 
many conversions to Christianity; among them a 
notable chief, who was baptized with all his family, 
was renamed Samuel, and was put to death by the 
king's order. 

A princess named Zarmantukht also became a con- 
vert, with all her household, two hundred people in 
all; the whole of them suffered martyrdom in con- 
sequence. 

Dr. Philip Schaff says: " It is now impossible to 
decide how much truth there may be in the somewhat 
mythical stories of correspondence between Christ and 
Abgarus, and the missionary activity and martyrdom 
of Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Simon of Cana, and Judas 
Lebbeus. But it is certain that Christianity was in- 
troduced very early in Armenia.'' I, however, con- 
sider what I have told to be true. 

After this time, Christianity spread in Armenia as 
it did in other parts of the Greek Empire; rapidly in 
the cities, where intelligence was quick, and new ideas 
were welcomed ; slowly in the country districts, where 
people did not readily change. Its first result every- 
where was not so much to make people believe in it 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 69 

as to make them disbelieve in Paganism; for every 
person who actually came to believe in Christ, there 
were fifty who ceased to believe in Jupiter, or Bel, or 
Thoth, Venus or Astarte. There would be a flourish- 
ing Christian church in a great city when most of 
the people did not have any faith in any religion. But 
everybody who had a family came gradually to think 
very well of a religion that gave them the power to 
teach children righteousness, and enforce it by the 
command of God; and the respectable classes became 
more and more Christian. But the fact that till two 
or three centuries after Christ there was no general 
attempt on the part of the pagan governments to put 
down the Christians by persecution, shows that not till 
then did they become so numerous as to frighten the 
governments for fear they would before long have a 
majority; persecution means fear. The governments 
let the Christians pretty much alone, except for little 
fits of anger now and then, till they were afraid the 
growth of the sect would overthrow themselves or 
bring on civil war. The Christians had become well 
established in Armenia within a century or so after 
the death of Christ; but it was over a century and a 
half before they seemed an imminent menace to the 
ruling class. Then a furious persecution began, about 
the same time as that of Diocletian in the Roman Em- 
pire, and indeed, part of the same movement. Diocle- 
tian had set the persecuting King Tiridates on his 
throne, and Tiridates had passed his life from boyhood 
almost to old age in the Roman service, and had the 



70 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

same ideas as tlie pagan Roman upper classes. Yet 
in the providence of God tliis same Tiridates made 
Christianity supreme in Armenia, fifteen years before 
Constantine made it supreme in the Roman Empire, 
thus making Armenia the first Christian nation. 
Gregory the Illuminator and King Dertad. 

In the continual struggle between Rome and Par- 
thia for the control of Armenia, the Parthian kings 
had one great advantage; they were Arsacids, and 
could put their sons or brothers on the Armenian 
throne with the good-will of the people, thus strength- 
ening their dynastic position without much cost in 
military force. Often, too, the Armenian kingship 
was obtained by Parthian princes, who fled after a 
family quarrel, or after deposition or other misfortune. 
One of these Armenian kings was Chosroes, who 
reigned in the time of Ardashir, the first king of Per- 
sia, before spoken of. It is not certain just who he 
was; some say a brother of Ardvan, the last king of 
Parthia; some say the son of Ardvan, who fled after 
his father's death. Anyway, he was a mortal enemy 
of Ardashir, and was at first supported by the Romans. 
Ardashir invaded Armenia, but was beaten later. 
Chosroes quarreled with the Romans, who withdrew 
their support, and assailed him, but he defeated them ; 
and w^hen Ardashir again invaded the country, Chos- 
roes again drove him back. The old days of Tigranes 
seemed to have returned, and Armenia to be on the 
road again to unity and independence; and Chosroes 
was called the Great. Ardashir was furious at being 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 71 

baffled, and is said to have offered his daughter's hand 
and a share in the kingdom to any one of his leading 
nobles who would assassinate Chosroes. An Arsacid 
named Anag accepted the offer, though he had a 
wife already, and went with his family to Armenia, 
pretending to be in flight from Persian troops. Chos- 
roes gave him a military escort into the province of 
Ardaz, where he lived for a time in the very place 
St. Thaddeus' bones were deposited. Later on, Anag 
removed to Yagharshabad (the present city of Etch- 
miazin, where the Armenian Catholicos resides), Chos- 
roes' royal city. Here Anag seizing his opportunity, 
stabbed Chosroes to the heart. In his flight he was 
drowned in trying to cross the Aras, and his family 
were massacred by the soldiery. 

Ardashir had gotten rid of his unconquerable en- 
emy, and without having to pay the stipulated price. 
He at once entered Armenia and put to death every 
member of Chosroes' family save a boy and a girl, 
Tiridates and Chosrovitukht, who were somehow smug- 
gled away, and the old game of Perso-Roman foot-ball 
over Armenia went on as before. Tiridates entered 
the Roman army, when grown up, and became dis- 
tinguished there, evidently inheriting his father's mil- 
itary ability; and remained in the Roman service cer- 
tainly to the age of over 45, and perhaps till over 50. 
That the Romans waited all this time before using 
him as a candidate for the Armenian throne seems 
strange; but the reason probably is that the early 
years of his manhood fell in a time when Rome was 



72 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

weak and Persia strong. The great Shahpur, Ar- 
dashir's son, reigned in Persia till about 272; the imbe- 
cile Gallienus of Kome reigned from 260 till 268, and 
was succeeded by a crowd of emperors able indeed, 
but too short-lived to carry out any steady policy, or 
drive the Persians out of their strong places. The 
first emperor who found himself in a position to re- 
store the Roman power in the East was Diocletian, 
who came to the Roman throne in 284, and it is sig- 
nificant that he made Tiridates king of Armenia only 
two years later. As Diocletian was a soldier of for- 
tune, probably he had known and respected Tiridates 
long before. Anyway, in 286 Rome once more had 
her turn in Armenian affairs, and with one short in- 
terval, kept absolute control of the country for over 
half a century. 

!N^ow there had been born in Armenia about 257 
a child who had early been taken to Caesarea by Chris- 
tian relatives, baptized, named Gregory, and reared in 
the Christian faith. On reaching maturity he mar- 
ried a Christian girl by whom he had two sons; but 
after three years they separated by mutual consent. 
The wife entered a convent. Gregory, hearing of Ti- 
ridates' renown in the Roman army, went and obtained 
service near the prince's person, to be able to have 
influence with him if he ever regained his kingdom. 
They became fast friends. When Tiridates was pro- 
claimed king, he went first to Erija, in the province of 
Egueghatz, where was a temple of Anahid (Diana), 
whom the Armenians worshiped as guardian goddess 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 73 

of the country; and making offerings to her of gar- 
lands and crowns, asked Gregory to join him in his 
idolatry. Gregory refused to worship anything but 
the one God. Tiridates ordered him imprisoned for 
a while, thinking the loathsome dungeon of that time 
would change his resolution ; finding him still firm, he 
had him tortured in a dozen frightful ways, and at 
last taken to the fortress of Ardashad and thrown into 
a deep pit, where criminals were left to starve. There 
Gregory remained fourteen years, supported all that 
time by the charity of a pious Christian woman. 
After about ten years of reign, Tiridates was driven 
from his throne by Persians, and once more became a 
wanderer; but two years later he was reinstated by the 
Eomans, and finished his life on the throne. In grat- 
itude for this second restoration, he had daily offerings 
made to the heathen gods all over his kingdom; and 
on being told that the Christians refused to comply, 
ordered all recusants to be tortured, and their prop- 
erty confiscated. 

About this time Diocletian determined to find and 
marry the handsomest woman in his empire, and sent 
officers all over in search of noted beauties. One 
party, hearing that a nun named Ripsime was very 
beautiful, entered her convent by force, had a portrait 
m.ade of her, and carried it to the emperor. Diocle- 
tian was enchanted with it, and ordered preparations 
made for the nuptials; but the abbess, Kayane, to 
save the nun from sin, and the community from dan- 
ger, broke up the convent, and the inmates with sev- 



74 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

eral priests — seventy in all — went to the East, and 
scattered themselves in different localities. Ripsime 
and Kayane, with thirty-five companions, reached Ar- 
dashad in Armenia, and took refuge in a building 
among the vineyards, where wine vats were stored. 
Diocletian had search made for his flown bird, and, 
hearing that her company had gone to Armenia, com- 
manded Tiridates to send her back to him unless he 
wished to keep her for his own wife. Tiridates had 
her hunted out, and the officers bringing a report of 
her extraordinary beauty, so great that people flocked 
to admire her, he ordered her brought to him, intend- 
ing to marry her. Kayane exhorted her not to deny 
Christ for the sake of earthly honors, and she refused 
to go. She was carried by force, however, and the 
king undertook to gain a husband's rights at once; but 
the virgin, strengthened by divine power, resisted him 
successfully. Tiridates then had the Abbess Kayane 
brought to him to overcome the girPs scruples; but 
instead, she once more exhorted Ripsime to keep her- 
self pure in spite of all offered grandeur. The king 
once more endeavored to deflower the maiden, and 
was once more beaten ; and Ripsime, opening the doors 
and passing out through the astonished guards, walked 
out of the city, to her companions in the vineyard, 
went to a high place, and knelt down in prayer. The 
incensed Tiridates sent a body of guards to put her to 
death by the most dreadful tortures, which was done, 
and her body cut into small pieces. Her companions 
gathered to bury her remains, and were at once 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 75 

biitchered by the soldiery, as well as a sick one, who 
had stayed behind in the wine press. The bodies of 
the thirty-four martyrs were thrown into the fields as 
food for the beasts of prey. The next day Tiridates 
had Kayane and two other companions put to death. 
These events occurred on the 5th and 6th of October, 
301. 

Shortly after, God visited the king and many of 
his household with a dreadful disease for his perse- 
cution of the saints. They ran around like mad peo- 
ple or demoniacs. While they were in this state, the 
king's virgin sister Chosrovitukht had a divine revela- 
tion that she should go to Ardashad and release Gre- 
gory from the pit, and he would heal them all. As he 
had been thrown there fourteen years ago, and was 
believed to be long dead, no attention was paid to it; 
but the next day it was repeated five times with 
threats, and a chief named Oda was sent, who brought 
him back alive, to their great amazement and joy. 
They prostrated themselves before him and asked for- 
giveness, but he told them to worship only their Cre- 
ator. Then he demanded to be shown the bodies of 
the holy martyrs lately just slain for belief in Christ; 
they were found after nine days and nights untouched, 
and he gathered them up and put them into the wine 
press, where he also established himself. First he 
ordered the king and all the people to fast five days, 
and commended them to the mercy of God ; and after 
that for sixty consecutive days he preached the word 
of God, instructing them in all the mysteries of the 



76 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Christian religion. On the sixty-sixth day they again 
besought him to heal them, but first he made them 
build three chapels for the relics of the martyrs, each 
in a separate coffin, wall in the place where he had 
seen a vision of the Son of God coming down from 
heaven, and erect a crucifix before which the people 
should prostrate themselves. Finally, seeing that 
they all believed in the true God, St. Gregory bade 
them kneel down and pray to Him for healing; he 
himself prayed for them at the same time, and a mira- 
culous cure was at once effected on all the sufferers. 

This done, Gregory and Tiridates set about ex- 
terminating idolatry; they smashed the idols and de- 
molished the temples, the new converts joyfully as- 
sisting them. The work of conversion went on rapidly, 
under the wonderful preaching of the Saint, and the 
zeal of the king; all the people converted were baptized 
by immersion. In eight years the majority of the 
Armenian nation, many millions in number, had be- 
come Christians. That religion was made the State 
creed of Armenia in 310, while the Council of Mce, 
which did the same work for Rome, was not held till 
325. 

Gregory deserves every credit for this magnificent 
work ; but I cannot help wishing he had been less zeal- 
ous in destroying the pagan literature, which is a very 
great loss to the world. However, Christianity is 
worth it, if we could not have it at a less price. 

Schools, as well as churches and benevolent in- 
stitutions, were organized in great numbers under 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 77 

ChristiaiL auspices during the next two or three cen- 
turies, and a brilliant band of scholars and preachers 
went out from them, the equals of any in their age, 
and perhaps in any age. I will give sketches of some 
of the principal figures, but first let me briefly tell the 
history of Armenia during that period. 

The rivalry between Rome and Persia grew fiercer 
than ever with the introduction of Christianity, for 
now religious hate was added to political ambition; 
and on the side of Persia the Armenian difiiculties 
were doubled, for a considerable part of the Armenians 
were still Zoroastrians, and sympathized with the Per- 
sians against their own government, while many of 
the Persians had become Christian, and opposed their 
pagan rulers. Thus the Persians felt that they had a 
civil war on their hands as well as foreign wars, and 
persecuted their Christians horribly. On the other 
hand, they had the help of the pagan part of the Ar- 
menians in invading or controlling that state; still 
again, the Armenian Christians now favored the Ro- 
mans much more strongly than they had before, be- 
cause Rome was now Christian ; while on top of all were 
the great barons, almost independent of the nominal 
kings, and who favored neither party but wanted their 
feudal independence. Yet the Roman control of the 
kingship, for what it was worth, lasted without a break 
for over half a century after the victory of Christian- 
ity, and over three-quarters of a century from the ac- 
cession of Tiridates; w^hich was due largely to the 
great ability of the Roman emperors Diocletian and 



78 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Constantine, and the excellent administration and mil- 
itary organization tliey left, whicli saved the eastern 
provinces from Persia for over a quarter of a century 
after Constantine^s death. Shahpur II, of Persia, 
won many victories, but he could not hold even the 
places he captured, and he gained no territory till the 
death of '^ Julian the Apostate " in his Persian cam- 
paign of 363. His weak and frightened successor 
Jovian surrendered a great section of the Eastern Ro- 
man territory, and still more disgracefully agreed that 
the Romans should not help their ally Arshag (Ar- 
saces), king of Armenia, against Shahpur. Armenia 
was at once invaded, but she felt her national existence 
at stake, and fought with desperation. Though Shah- 
pur had the help of two apostate Armenian princes, 
Merujan and Vahan, and other native traitors, who 
ravaged the country and fought their king because he 
was a Christian, Arshag held out four years, aided by 
his heroic though unprincipled wife Parantzem, and 
his able chief commander Yashag. Yagharshabad, 
Ardashad, Ervandshad, and many other cities were 
taken and destroyed ; finally Arshag and Yashag were 
captured. Arshag's eyes were put out, and he was 
thrown into a Persian dungeon in Ecbatana; Yashag 
was flayed alive, and his skin stuffed and set near the 
king. Queen Parantzem still refused to surrender, 
and with 11,000 soldiers and 6,000 fugitive women held 
the fortress of Ardis fourteen months, till nearly all of 
them were dead from hunger or disease; then she 
opened the gates herself. Instead of honoring her, 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 79 

Shahpur, who was a worthy predecessor of the Turks, 
had her violated on a public platform by his soldiers, 
and then impaled (368). Meantime, her and Ashag's 
son, Bab (Papa), had escaped to Constantinople and 
afcked the help of the co-Emperor Valens. That em- 
peror hated to break the treaty, and involve Rome in 
a new eastern war; but he could not suffer Persia to 
be strengthened by the possession of all Armenia, and 
the Roman statesmen had determined to end the long 
struggle over Armenia by dividing it between Persia 
and themselves. Bab was secretly helped by the Ro- 
mans; he kept up a guerrilla warfare in the mountains, 
and a large part of the Armenian people were pre- 
pared to welcome him back to his rightful throne. 
The Romans tried to keep within the letter of their 
treaty by not letting him assume the title of king. 
The Persians considered his support by Greek troops 
a breach of the treaty, none the less, and Yalens al- 
ternately aided and disavowed him. The matter was 
not mended by the worthless character of Bab himself, 
who murdered his best friends on the least suspicion, 
and had the incredible baseness to hold a secret cor- 
respondence with Shahpur, the worse than murderer of 
his parents. Finally the Romans, convinced that he 
must be under their watch if they were to have any 
security of him, tolled him down to Cilicia, and pre- 
vented him from returning by guards of soldiers. He 
made his escape, and professed his allegiance to the 
Romans as before; but Yalens resolved to be rid of 



80 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

liim, and had him murdered by Count Trajan, the 
Roman commander in the East. 

Meantime a powerful Roman army under Count 
Trajan, and the chief Persian host, had actually 
camped opposite each other on the borders of Armenia 
(371) ; but neither side wanted a general war just then, 
— Rome must have her hands free for the Goths, and 
Persia hers for the Mongols. Finally, in 379, Shah- 
pur died, and there was an instant and entire change in 
Persian policy toward Rome, and even toward Chris- 
tianity for a while. His brother and successor, Ar- 
dashir, was an old man, and reigned but four years; 
his successor, Shahpur III, at once sent embassies to 
Rome, and made a treaty of peace (384). Finally, 
on the succession of Bahram IV (Kirman Shah), in 
390, that monarch arranged a treaty of partition with 
Theodosius, the Roman emperor, by which Armenia 
ceased to exist. The western portion became a Ro- 
man province ; the then reigning sovereign, Arshag lY, 
was made governor to keep the people contented. The 
eastern, and much the larger section, was annexed to 
Persia, under the name of Persarmenia; and to please 
the people, an Arsacid, Chosroes TV, was made gov- 
ernor, and the dynasty was continued in its rule over 
the Armenians till after the great Perso-Roman war of 
421-2, and the persecution of Christians by Persia, 
which was the pretext of it. The persecution and the 
war led to a movement for Armenian independence; 
after it was over, Bahram Y of Persia (Gor, the Wild 
Ass, " the mighty hunter '') put a new vassal, Ar- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 81 

dashes IV, into the governorship ; but the great Ar- 
menian barons would not give up the struggle, and 
this last of the Arshagoonian dynasty was removed in 
428 and Persian governors substituted. 

Thus ended the rule of the line of Arshag. It was 
a mighty race, and swarms with brilliant names; but in 
Persia it was justly displaced by one of better public 
policy, and in Armenia the position of the country 
was fatal to it. 

THE INTERREGNUM. 
Prominent Men; Literature; The Church and the Clergy. 

From the time of the partition to the succession 
of the Pakradoonian dynasty there was not in name 
an Armenian kingdom; but it must not be supposed 
that there was not an Armenian nation. E^o matter 
how its neighbor nations changed, that country was 
always called Armenia, and the people held to their 
Armenian ways and feelings. The national feeling 
was as strong as before, and above all the feeling of 
church unity was very intense. 'No one will ever 
understand Armenian history, or indeed any Oriental 
history at all, w^ho does not realize that religious ques- 
tions come first, and political questions second. The 
Armenian church was, it is true, a Christian church; 
but it was the Armenian Christian church, not the 
Greek church, and the Syrian and African churches 
had their separate creeds and preferences, and the 
Greek church, which was the official church of the 

Greek Empire, was always trying to root out their 
6 



82 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

" heresies '^ and make them Greek. That was one rea- 
son why the Mohammedans conquered those countries 
so easily. The Africans would rather be ruled by 
the Mohammedans than by the Greek church, the 
Syrians were angry because the Greek church wanted 
to take away their own church and give them the 
Greek. But the Armenians would not take either 
the Greek or the Mohammedan or the Zoroastrian; 
they wanted their own. So they were persecuted ter- 
ribly by the Greek Christians and the Persian fire- 
worshipers alike. Just as before the partition, each 
country invaded the other's part of Armenia when- 
ever they got into war; and whichever won, the Ar- 
menians were the losers. When the Greeks won, they 
tortured the Armenians; when the Persians won, they 
tortured the Armenians; later, when the Mohamme- 
dans won, they also tortured the Armenians. The 
mediaeval history of Armenia is that of a battle- 
ground between contending races — Greeks, Per- 
sians, Scythians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, 
Mongols, and so on. Millions of its people were slain; 
millions died of famine and disease; millions of its 
women were forced to embrace Mohammedanism and 
become the wives and mothers of Mohammedans, — 
half the blood of those who are called Turks at this 
day is Armenian ; millions of its boys were forced into 
the Turkish service, so that many of the best-known 
names in Turkish history, and in the Turkey of to- 
day, are Armenian names. Yet through all these ca- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 83 

lamities and decimations Armenia has kept its national 
life and national religion. 

From 390 to 640 the history of both sections of 
Armenia is little more than an account of religious 
persecutions and their results; the persecutors on the 
one side were Christians, and on the other side Zoroas- 
trians, but the results to the Armenians were much 
the same. The Persian atrocities, however, were on 
the larger scale, and the outcome was a chronic state 
of revolt, which will be alluded to in the sketch of 
Vartan the defender. But the rise of the Saracen 
powxr changed Armenia's greatest foe from the Per- 
sian to the Arab, from the fire-worshipers to the Mo- 
hammedans. Persia was invaded by the forces of 
the caliph Omar in 634, and about 640-2 the decisive 
battle of ^ehavend annihilated the last great Persian 
army, though scattered places held out much longer. 
The Armenian highlands at once resumed their inde- 
pendence, and their chiefs, with those of the western 
section belonging to the Byzantine Empire, fought for 
their own hand in lack of a true national chief whom 
all could look up to, but allied themselves mainly with 
the Greek power against the barbarians; and for two 
entire centuries, and more, Armenia was a furious 
and bloody battle-ground between Greeks and Sar- 
acens, while internally in a state of feudal anarchy. 
Then a prince of the family of Pakrad or Bagrat (well- 
known to students of the last century's history in the 
form of Bagration), of Jewish descent, as has already 
been mentioned, which had obtained power over the 



84 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

central and northern parts of Armenia, was recognized 
by the caliph as an independent monarch; and thus 
founded the Pakradoonian dynasty, which lasted till 
Armenia's independence was once more extinguished 
by the Byzantine Empire, — a crime almost immedi- 
ately punished by the overwhelming of Asia Minor by 
the Seljuk Turks. 

PROMINENT MEN OF THE PERIOD. 
NiERSEs The Great. 

This was the great creator of Armenian scholar- 
ship. He was a descendant of St. Gregory; studied 
in the Greek schools of Caesarea during boyhood; later 
in those of Constantinople, where he became famous 
for learning, married a Greek princess of a distin- 
guished house, and on his return to Armenia was made 
pontiff. (All the clergy were married then, as the 
Greek priests are now.) He founded over 2,000 
schools, and benevolent institutions, as well as great 
numbers of churches, was a powerful and persuasive 
preacher, and a considerable writer, part of the Church 
history being his. From these schools went forth a 
very brilliant band of scholars, preachers and orators, 
the equals of any in the world. 

It was during his pontificate that the affairs of 
Arshag and Bab took place, and he was intimately con- 
nected with them till his death at the hands of the lat- 
ter. Previous to the desertion of Armenia by the 
Romans in 363, they had quarreled with Arshag, and 
sent an army to punish him; but on ^N^ierses' interces- 
sion with Yalens it was recalled, and the Saint obtained 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 85 

high favor with the emperor. Arshag's conduct, how- 
ever, grew too bad for endurance; he had his father 
and a relative named Kuenel (or Gnel) killed, and mar- 
ried Kuenel's wife, Parantzem (who afterwards met 
such a horrible fate), though his own wife, Olympias, 
was still alive. Nierses, finding admonition of no 
avail, quitted Yagharshabad and went into a convent. 
But Arshag, getting into fresh difficulties with the 
emperor and his own rebellious vassals, besought the 
saint to assist him once more, and once more Kierses 
complied. He first pacified the turbulent nobility; 
then interceded with the Roman commander to such 
effect that the general withdrew his army and went 
to Constantinople to justify himself to the emperor, 
taking a letter to him from Arshag, and hostages for 
the latter's loyalty, and also inducing ^ierses to ac- 
company him. But Yalens was enraged at the with- 
drawal, would neither read the letter nor see the saint, 
and ordered the hostages killed and Merses banished. 
The former sentence was revoked on the general's in- 
tercession, but Merses was shipped for his place of 
exile; on the way a storm wrecked the vessel on a 
desert island, but he and the crew were saved. It was 
winter, and they could find no food but the roots of 
trees, but in a short time the sea miraculously cast 
abundance of fish on shore, and for eight months they 
never suffered for sustenance. At the end of that time 
the saint was set free. 

After the restoration of Bab to the land, though 
not the acknowledged throne of his fathers, Nierses 



86 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

convened an assembly of Armenian princes and eccle- 
siastical heads, with the king, and swore them all to 
mutual concord and good behavior, to unite the land 
against the Persians; but Bab, like so many Eastern 
potentates and indeed his father, cared for nothing but 
to indulge his ow^n passions, and would have sold his 
country to Shahpur if he could have got his price. 
E^ierses in vain tried to turn him from his evil ways; 
Bab merely hated him for it, and finally had him pois- 
oned, in the village of Khakh in the province of Eghue- 
ghiatz. Merses had been pontiff eight years, but they 
were crowded with labors of immense variety and use- 
fulness. He left one son (Isaac), who eventually be- 
came pontiff also. 

Sahag and Mesrob. 

Isaac was educated ait Constantinople like his 
father, and had at first no thought of being a great 
churchman, but only of leading the life of a noble. 
He was always, however, of a very pure and lofty char- 
acter, a marked contrast to the proud and dissolute no- 
bility around him; and after the early death of his 
wife, devoted himself to religious seclusion, into which 
he was followed by sixty disciples. In 389, a few 
years after his father's death, he was called out to fill 
the pontificate, once more vacant. This was the year 
before the partition of Armenia; but even after that, 
though the country was divided, the church was not. 
The Armenian Church was still one, with a single 
head; but the appointment of that head was of suoh 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 87 

immense political importance that, as the king had be- 
fore claimed the deciding voice in it, so now each power 
insisted on being satisfied, — no easy matter. Some of 
the nobles who opposed Chosroes of Persarmenia 
now complained to the king of Persia that the ap- 
pointment of the new pontiff had been made without 
his consent, in order to foment a rebellion, and make 
Armenia independent again; and the king deposed" 
Isaac. Shortly after, however, a new king reinstated 
him; and a new vassal king being put in Chosroes' 
place, and the country more quiet, St. Isaac began to 
repair the churches, which had fallen into decay, — 
entirely rebuilding that of St. Pipsime, destroyed by 
Shahpur, in the course of which he discovered St. 
Gregory's urn sealed with his cross-engraven signet. 

About this time St. Mesrob began to be famous for 
sanctity. He was a scholar well versed in Greek, 
Syrian, and Persian, as well as his native tongue ; had 
been secretary to St. Merses, and after his death re- 
mained at court under the patronage of a prince 
named Aravan, where he became chancellor. Finally 
he became wearied of earthly glory and court corrup- 
tions, and entered a convent, whither many disciples 
were attracted by his learning and sanctity. Hearing 
of St. Isaac's beneficent deeds, however, he left the 
convent and attached himself to him; and under his 
authority preached and taught in all parts of the pro- 
vince. We are told that by the aid of the chief of 
Koghten he extirpated a diabolic heathen sect in that 
province. But his fame is chiefly as having begun 



88 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

with Isaac the Golden Age of Armenian literature; I 
shall speak of this a little later. 

Barouyr or Broyerios. 

We must not judge the ability and reputation of 
men in their own ages solely by the familiarity of 
their names to us; those that have come down to 
us are a mere handful, and not by any means always 
the greatest of their time. Much depends on chance 
— the preservation of certain works, and the loss 
of others, or certain men happening to do something 
dramatic. Great orators are especially likely to be 
forgotten; they leave no written works of their own, 
and not being in political life, the common histories 
do not mention them. The name of Barouyr is wholly 
unknown to this age; but we have the testimony of a 
contemporary writer, Eunapius of Sardis, — not a 
countryman of his, and therefore free from all suspi- 
cion of patriotic brag, and most unlikely to make out 
an Armenian greater than he was, — that he was the 
most wonderful orator of his time, famous all over the 
Roman world, and greatly admired even by the em- 
perors. He was one of those men to whom all languages 
seem alike to come by nature, and his oratory was as 
easy and as perfect in one as in the other; in Latin or 
Greek as in his national Armenian. The only com- 
parison I can give in modern times is Louis Kossuth. 
That Barouyr has not the fame of Cicero or Demosthe- 
nes, Kossuth or Gladstone, is probably because under 
the circumstances of the time he could not engage in 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 89 

political life; military service or liigh birth were about 
the only avenues to that. I will quote in substance 
what Eunapius says of this brilliant orator, whom he 
probably knew all about, as our boys know Gladstone, 
— for he was born in 347, and Barouyr was certainly 
alive in the time of the Emperor Julian, who came to 
the throne in 361: — 

Barouyr lived to be ninety, and was beautiful 
even in old age, having the vigor of youth in his 
looks. He was eight feet high. When a boy he left 
Armenia and went to Antioch, the first seat of the 
Christians, and entered the school of oratory under the 
celebrated Albianos, where he shortly became the fore- 
most pupil. Thence he went to Athens and studied 
under Julian, the greatest of the teachers of oratory 
there, — supporting himself by working meantime, 
as he was very poor ; in no long time he was recognized 
as the leading orator of Athens, and taught the art to 
the Athenians. The other teachers were so angry 
that they bribed the governor to banish him; but on 
the governor's removal some time after, he was per- 
mitted to return. The new governor instituted an 
oratorical competition ; whoever could deliver the best 
extempore oration on a subject to be given out on the 
spot, should receive great honors. Barouyr took part 
on condition that the auditors should take careful notes, 
and should not cheer ; but they were so fascinated that 
they broke both conditions, listening in rapture and 
applauding repeatedly. The governor offered him his 
chair, and honored him as the greatest orator in Athens. 



90 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Later, the Emperor Constans was so struck witli his 
wisdom and oratorical power that he called him first 
to Gaul and then to Rome, where he delivered his 
greatest orations, and the Romans erected a bronze 
monument in his honor, inscribed " Regina Rerum 
Romae, Regi Eloquentiae " (Rome Queen of Affairs, 
to the King of Eloquence). From Rome he returned 
to Athens, and taught there many years with great 
repute, up to the time of the Emperor Julian, who 
honored him, and spoke as follows of him : " Barouyr 
was a flowing river of oratory, and in power and per- 
suasiveness of speech was like Pericles.'' And I must 
add that with all this he was a thorough Christian man, 
— not a priest, but a great Christian layman and 
teacher. 

Vartan, Defender of the Faith. 

Yartan Hamigonian is the most esteemed and be- 
loved name in Armenian history. Tiridates founded 
the Christian kingdom; but when the religion was in 
danger of extermination throughout Persian Armenia 
at the hands of the fire-worshipers, Yartan saved it, 
and died for it, a faithful servant of God and his Sav- 
iour. It was said of him that he was an honest, mod- 
est, wise, brave, true, pure, childlike, and Christ- 
like Christian commander, a great soldier of the Cross. 
He was a lamb in nature, but when he came to defend 
his religion he was a lion. As a little boy he was so 
full of grace that the Pontiff Sahag adopted him as his 
son; and through this companionship of the aged ec- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 91 

clesiastic and the religious boy, tlie latter developed 
into a great spiritual light. In 421 he went to Con- 
stantinople with St. Mesrob, and was much loved and 
esteemed by the emperor (Theodosius II) and the 
court; then to Persia, where the king honored him 
and gave him the title of prince. 

In 439 Yazdegerd II of Persia succeeded his fa- 
ther, Bahram Y, the destroyer of the Arsacid dynasty, 
and began a furious persecution of both Jews and 
Christians, which lasted a dozen years, and ended in 
a complete victory for religious freedom. The king, 
like James I of England, fancied himself a great the- 
ologian, and could always be victorious in a debate by 
killing his opponent. One specimen will suffice. He 
called a convocation of Armenian priests and noble- 
men, and commanded them to embrace fire-worship on 
pain of death. " Your Christ cannot save you,'' said 
he, " for He is crucified and dead.'' " Oh my gracious 
king," replied a young nobleman, " why did you not 
read further about Christ ? He was indeed crucified, 
but rose again, ascended to Heaven, and is living now 
and our Saviour." The king in a rage had his head 
struck off. 

Finally in 450 the people of Persian Armenia rose 
in revolt, and determined to fight for their religion. 
Yartan took command of them, and showed himself the 
ablest commander of his time. For a year he held at 
bay the overwhelming forces of the Persian Empire, 
and was victorious in every battle, even to the last, — 
a striking parallel to Judas Maccabaeus in historical 



92 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

position, as well as military ability. Finally the forces 
were arrayed for battle on the banks of the Dugh- 
mood river, in the plains of Avarayr, near the present 
city of Van. Yartan had 66,000 men, the Persians 
several times as many. Yartan prayed to God for 
help, and to Christ for his own salvation ; then he made 
a speech to his soldiers, in substance as follows: — 
'* Soldiers, as Christians we are averse from fighting; 
but to defend the Christian religion and our own free- 
dom we have to fight. Surely our lives are not as val- 
uable as Christ's, and if he was willing to die on 
the cross for us, we ought to be willing to die in battle 
for him." Then, with his troops, he crossed the river, 
fell on the enemy's center, and scattered the huge army 
in rout, killing 3,544 men besides nine great princes, 
and losing 1,036 of his own; but alas ! one of these was 
himself, dying from a mortal wound not long after. 
^Nevertheless, he had won the victory he was striving 
for. Yazdegerd saw it was impossible to conquer the 
Armenians in a war for religion, and granted entire 
liberty to the Christians to believe and preach as they 
pleased. 

ARMENIAN LITERATURE. 
Fifth Century. 

The Armenian schools and universities and their 
outpour of great scholars and writers have already 
been spoken of, but of course Armenian youths, eager 
for the best of the world's learning, did not confine 
themselves to their own country; they studied in Con- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 93 

stantinople, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and wher- 
ever great teachers were located. All were zealous 
Christians, and the books they have left behind were 
Christian literature, not works of mere enjoyment. A 
very rich and valuable literature it is, too, in my judg- 
ment the most so of any single body that exists ; though 
much of it has perished in the recent destruction of 
everything Christian the Turks can reach. My 
readers will not credit my opinion of it, because most 
of it has never been translated, but that makes it all 
the more valuable now, it has so much that is new to 
add to the stores of the world. It is not necessary to 
give them all, but to point out the chief writers. 

The fifth century is called the Golden Age of Ar- 
menian literature. First in point of time as well 
as importance comes the Armenian Bible. The furi- 
ous opposition of the Church in the Middle Ages to 
letting the people have the Bible to read in their o^vn 
tongues seems perfectly ridiculous, when we remem- 
ber that in the early Christian church every people had 
it in their own language, and it was thought to be the 
greatest work for a heathen people that could be done, 
to translate the Bible for them. It was not thought 
needful then to keep the word of God in a strange 
tongue, so that the people could neither read it for 
themselves nor understand it when it was read to them. 

There w^ere probably some books of popular tales 
and songs in Armenia before the fifth century, for 
we are told that there was an Armenian alphabet to 
write them in as early as the second, but if so they have 



94 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

all perished, and the alphabet was doubtless a poor 
and meager one. Armenian scholars and writers read 
Greek or Latin books, and occasionally Hebrew or 
Syriac ones, and wrote in Greek or Latin themselves; 
if it was necessary to write Armenian, as in letters, 
they made the Greek, Syriac, or Persian characters, 
which of course were insufficient to give the Armenian 
sounds. They would have got along with this, how- 
ever, if it had not been for the eagerness of Chris- 
tian enthusiasm which made them wish to give the 
Bible to Armenia; it was to spread the word of God, 
not to write books, that they were anxious. St. Mes- 
rob set to work and invented a very perfect alphabet 
of thirty-six letters, to which two have been added 
since. According to one of his disciples, having 
vainly sought help from the learned, he prayed to God, 
and received the new alphabet in a vision. This was 
about 405. He and Sahag the Pontiff at once began 
to translate the 'New Testament and the Book of Pro- 
verbs from a poor Greek version, the best they had, 
with the assistance of two pupils, John of Eghueghi- 
atz and Joseph of Baghin. This was finished in 406. 
Many years later (seemingly about the time Persian 
Armenia was made a satrapy), they undertook the 
translation of the Old Testament; but as the Persians 
had destroyed all the Greek MSS., it was necessary to 
use a Syriac version. The same two assistants aided 
them; but being sent to the Council of Ephesus in 431, 
they brought back copies of the Greek Septuagint, and 
the old translation was at once dropped, and a new one 



THE ARI^IENIAN DYNASTIES. 95 

put under way. But all found their knowledge of 
Greek too imperfect to rely on, and the pupils were 
sent to Alexandria and Athens to complete their educa- 
tion; on their return they seem to have brought a new 
Alexandrian version, and corrections were made from 
that, and the work completed, most likely about 435. 

The Bible completed, they turned to other labors. 
The Saints Sahag and Mesrob are said to have written 
six hundred books themselves, all in Christian theology 
and instruction; and the pupils from the schools St. 
Nierses and themselves had founded — the chief of 
their own were at N^oravank, Ayri, and Vochkhoroz 
— wrote great numbers besides. The first orig- 
inal work of Sahag was one on Pastoral Theol- 
ogy, setting forth that the Church of Christ is the 
Bride of Christ, and the ministers must therefore be 
holy, pure, and obedient. He wrote many epistles to 
kings and emperors, all of whom reverenced and were 
greatly influenced by him. He wrote a large part of 
the Armenian Church History, composed many 
hymns, and translated many commentaries and theo- 
logical works from the Greek. 

Fortunately during this period the government of 
Armenia was very good, with the exception of one 
period of two years or so; even after its partition, for 
close on forty years it had practically self-government 
in internal affairs, and for another decade the Chris- 
tians enjoyed full rights of worship. Bahram IV of 
Persia (389-399), who helped divide it, was a mon- 
arch who loved peace above all things, both with for- 



96 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

eign countries and his own people ; his successor, Yaz- 
degerd I (399-420), went even further, employed the 
Catholicos or Pontiff on embassies to Constantinople, 
and as mediator with his own brother, and made his 
son, Shahpur, governor of Persian Armenia, con- 
tinuing the Arsacid dynasty. He was murdered by 
his nobles, instigated by the Zoroastrian priests, for 
being too tolerant to the Christians, and his successor 
Bahram V, who got the throne by favor of the re- 
bellious elements, tried to please them by persecuting 
the Christians ; this involved him in a war with Rome, 
as I have said, and after a couple of years he made 
peace and gave toleration again. The turning of Per- 
sian Armenia into a satrapy in 428 I have already told; 
but no fresh persecution was undertaken till that of 
Yazdegerd II, in 439, ending in Yartan's revolt just 
detailed. Shahpur of Armenia was a prince of great 
wisdom, generosity, and public spirit; he patronized 
men of learning, founded schools, made large grants 
from the treasury for scholarship, and sent scholars to 
all the great seats of learning to teach and acquire the 
languages, literature, and history of other nations, 
after which they wrote and translated hundreds of 
volumes. Among them were Tavit, Khosrov, Mam- 
pre, and Zazar; a great historian, Eghishe (Elisaeus), 
author of the Life of Yartan ; and a great philosopher, 
Yeznic. These are only a few out of scores worthy 
of mention. 

Dr. Philip Schaff says : — " In spite of the unfa- 
vorable state of political and social affairs in Armenia 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 97 

during this epoch, more than six hundred Greek and 
Syrian works were translated within the first forty 
years after the translation of the Bible; and as in 
many cases the original works have perished, while 
the translations have be@n preserved, the great im- 
portance of this whole literary activity is apparent. 
Among works which in this way have come down 
to us are several books by Philo-Alexandrinus, on 
Providence, on reason, commentaries, etc. ; the Chron- 
icle of Eusebius, nearly complete ; the epistles of Igna- 
tius, translated from a Syrian version; fifteen Homilies 
by Severianus; the exegetical writings of Ephraim 
Syrus, previously completely unknown, on the his- 
torical books of the Old Testament, the synoptical gos- 
pels, the parables of Jesus, and the fourteen Pauline 
epistles; the Hexahemeron of Basil the Great; the Cat- 
echesis of Cyril of Jerusalem; several homilies by 
Chrysostom, etc. The period, however, was not char- 
acterized by translations only. Several of the dis- 
ciples of Mesrob and Sahak left original works. Es- 
nik wrote four books against heretics, printed at 
Venice in 1826, and translated into French by Le 
Yailliant de Florival, Paris, 1853. A biography of 
Mesrob by Koriun, homilies by Mambres, and various 
writings by the Philosopher David, have been pub- 
lished ; and the works of Moses Chorenensis, published 
in Venice in 1842, and again in 1864, have acquired a 
wide celebrity ; his history of Armenia has been trans- 
lated into Latin, French, Italian, and Russian.'' 

Sixth Centuky. 
The leading authors in this century are Abraham 
Mamigonian, who wrote on the Council of Ephesus; 
and Bedross Sounian, who w^rote on the Life of Christ. 
There are, however, many others of merit. 



98 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Seventh Century. 

By far the greatest name in this century, and in- 
deed the best-known and most important name in Ar- 
menian literature altogether^ is the writer who calls 
himself Movses Khorentzi, well known to all his- 
torical scholars as Moses of Chorene, author of the 
History of Armenia. For more than a thousand 
years, up to this century, indeed, this was practically 
the only source of Armenian history to the world; the 
other writers were inaccessible. And it is still very 
valuable, though not in just the way it was once 
thought to be. It preserves a vast amount of Ar- 
menian tradition, stories and ballads, and real history, 
which have perished except for this work; but he 
seems not to have had the Greek and Latin histories 
to draw from, and makes a great many mistakes. He 
gives a life of himself, and says he is writing in the 
fifth century, and knew Sahag and Mesrob when he 
was young; but he really lived in the seventh, and 
wrote history about the year 640. But still he is a 
great writer, and one of Armenia's literary lights; and 
we do not need to claim for him anything more than 
he deserves. 

Besides Movses, the chief authors were Gomidas, 

Yezr, Matossagha, Krikoradour, Hovhannes, Yertanes, 

and Anania. They wrote chiefly religious books; 

but Anania Shiragatzi is the author of a valuable work 

on astronomy. 

Eighth Century. 

The leading authors were: Hovhan Imassdasser, 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 99 

Sdepannoss Sounetzi, and Levont Yeretz. They wrote 
hymns, books on oratory, etc. 

Ninth Century. 

Zakaria Shabooh, Tooma, Kourken, etc. 

Tenth Century. 

The chief authors were Anania, Khasrov, and 
Krikor Naregatzi. The latter wrote a prayer book 
in ninety-five chapters, which one of the missionaries 
of the American Board thinks the best in the world. 
He says that only Beecher was able to offer such 
prayers as Krikor ^N^aregatzi. 

Eleventh Century. 

The leading writers were Hovhannes, Krikor, and 
Aristagues. In this century some of the best com- 
mentaries were written on the Bible. 

Twelfth Century. 

Leading authors: l^erses Shinorhali is the fore- 
most of Armenian poets, and a thoroughly con- 
verted and consecrated man of God. His hymns 
were intensely spiritual, and the Armenians still chant 
them in their churches. They are worthy to be trans- 
lated into English. Verses Lampronatzi, the greatest 
scholar ever born in Armenia, was a distinguished 
commentator on the Old Testament, and wrote many 
other books. Another is Yeremia. 

Again I quote from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclo- 
paedia: — "Another flourishing period falls in the 
twelfth century, during the Eubenian dynasty. 'Ner- 



100 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ses Klagensis and Verses Lainbronensis belong to this 
period; also Ignatius^ whose commentary to the Gos- 
pel of St. Luke appeared in Constantinople in 1735 
and 1824; Sargis Shnorhali, whose commentary on 
the Catholic Epistles was published in Constantinople 
in 1743, and again in 1826; Matthew of Edessa, whose 
history, comprising the period from 952 to 1132, and 
continued by Gregory the Priest to 1163, contains 
many interesting notices concerning the Crusaders; 
Samuel Aniensis, the chronologist; Michael Syrus, 
whose history has been edited with a Erench transla- 
tion by Y. Langlois, Paris, 1864; Mekhitar Kosh, of 
whom a hundred and ninety fables appeared at Venice, 
1780 and 1812. A most powerful impulse the Ar- 
menian literature received in the eighteenth century 
by the foundation of the Mekhitarist monastery in 
Venice, from whose press the treasures of the Ar- 
menian literature were spread over Europe, and new 
works, explaining and completing the old, were added. 
The Armenian liturgy was published in 1826, the 
breviary in 1845, the ritual in 1831." 

Thirteenth Century. 

Leading authors : — Krikor Sguevratzi, Kevork 
Sguevratzi, Mukhitar Anetzi, Vanagan Vartabed, Var- 
tan Vartabed, etc. They wrote histories, commen- 
taries, etc. As the Armenian dynasties ended in the 
fourteenth century, I Avill reserve my notes on the later 
literature till towards the end of the book. 

The peculiar value of the Armenian literature is 
not realized as it should be, by European and Ameri- 
can scholars; the language is well worth learning for 
what it can give the student, ^ot alone is the original 






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THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 101 

work that comes from the first Christian nation spe- 
cially valuable for its bearing on primitive Chris- 
tianity, but the Armenian scholars translated great 
numbers of works from other languages, and these 
translations are preserved in Armenian monaste- 
ries when the originals have been irretrievably lost 
in the wars, and burnings, and devastations of other 
countries. Six hundred volumes of this old literature 
are known to exist now, two hundred in Europe, and 
four hundred in different places in Armenia. 

THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 

The first thing to remember about this is, that it 
is an independent and separate body as much as the 
Greek or the Roman Catholic church, and older than 
either of them. I often hear such expressions as 
" the Armenian Catholic Church,'' and many people 
think it simply a " branch " of the great Eastern or 
Greek Church. It would be just as sensible to con- 
sider the Greek a branch of the Armenian Church. 
Each of them represents a form of church organization 
and body of doctrine which best satisfied the repre- 
sentatives of certain races or nations ; the advantage of 
the Greek was that that race — or at least its speech 
and thought — happened to be dominant in the Ro- 
man Empire at the time when Christianity won the 
battle, and so had the official backing of the em- 
pire, and was able to outgrow and crush down the 
others. It was not any truer, any more the real 
Church of Christ, than the Syrian or African or Ar- 



102 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

menian; it was not the earliest, for tlie very first 
Christian cliiirches sprang from the Jews; it was not 
even the earhest great national church body, for the 
Armenian church has that distinction. It had the 
most soldiers back of it to put down its opponents, that 
is all. I have already told the story of the foundation 
of the Armenian church by St. Gregory and Tiridates. 
That church has its own head — the Catholicos or Pon- 
tiff, w^ho is no more a subordinate of either the Pope 
or the Greek Patriarch than the Grand Llama is, or 
Dr. Parkhurst — and its own self-subsistent being. 

As to the differences between them, in the first 
place the Armenian is a purely Trinitarian. There 
is no room for Unitarianism within its lines. When 
Gregory the Illuminator was preaching his sermons 
on the hills and plains of Armenia, he laid the founda- 
tion of the national church in the Trinity. His first 
sermon was on the Trinity ; his last sermon was on the 
Trinity. In all his sermons he asserted the Trinity, 
— the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus 
Christ being a perfect Man and a perfect God; in his 
person we see God in man and man in God; a perfect 
Emmanuel, God with us. We see in him that man can 
be united with God. The only possible way of salva- 
tion is through Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of 
the world and none else, and whosoever believeth in 
Him shall be saved. This is the belief and the only be- 
lief of the Armenian Church. Its members repeat 
the Apostolic Creed and the Lord's Prayer every day 
in their churches. I say every day because Armen- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 103 

ians go to church every day, — twice, morning and 
evening, and three times on Sunday. 

Secondly, the Armenian has never been a per- 
secuting church, and every other one of the great 
Christian churches has been. The Armenian church, 
as befits the first and most Christ-like of all the bodies 
that professed Christ before Luther's time, has always 
been the broadest, the most inclusive, the most un- 
technical of churches. It fellowships with all other 
churches. It demands only that men shall profess 
and believe in Christ, and live Christian lives ; not that 
one shall belong to its own church body. Its canons 
are conversion and regeneration, purity, holiness, being 
born again from the Holy Spirit and becoming Christ- 
like. It holds that Christianity is brotherhood 
through Jesus Christ, and gives no warrant for op- 
pression or persecution, curses or anathemas. I need 
hardly say that it is alone in this of the older churches. 
The others hold that no one can be saved outside of 
their own bodies; hence they fulminate anathemas 
against all others, and have the anathemas read in 
their churches, and they persecute others to compel 
them to join themselves, or rid the world of a possible 
danger that their own members may be tolled outside. 
The Greek Church, where it has full power, will not 
even allow people of other creeds to come into its coun- 
try; for example, in Croatia a Protestant is not allowed 
to live there at all, and the people said in the Hungar- 
ian Diet that " intolerance was the most precious of 
their rights." The Russian Greek Church will not 



104 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

permit a Protestant missionary in Russia. Where tlie 
Roman Catholic power is complete, it is just as intoler- 
ant. The Armenian church has been repeatedly per- 
secuted by both, and has always protested against the 
principle of it, as well as against the pretensions of 
the Popes to universal sway. It is fairly entitled to be 
called the first Protestant Church. 

That the Armenian contention is for freedom of 
will, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship, and 
political freedom, is the cause of their being hated 
both by the Mohammedans and by their so-called Chris- 
tian neighbors; but it ought to be also a reason why 
Americans, who believe in these things themselves, 
should sympathize with us. If the Armenians would 
accept Mohammedanism, would the Turks persecute 
them ? ISTo. If they would accept Roman Catholic- 
ism would the Turks persecute them ? 'No, for the 
Catholic states would not permit it. If they would 
accept the Greek Church, would the Turks persecute 
them ? 1^0, for Russia would not permit it. But as 
they are an independent church the others are in- 
terested in persecuting them, and nobody is interested 
in defending them. If there is any help to come to 
them it will not be from the old churches of Europe, 
but from Protestant Anglo-Saxons helping their spirit- 
ual brethren, the Anglo-Saxons of the East; and it 
will be found, when the great battle comes, that the 
Slavonic, Greek, and Catholic churches will be on the 
side of the Mohammedans against the Armenian Chris- 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 105 

tiaiis. But that battle will come, and tlie victory will 
be on tlae side of freedom and righteousness. 

As to theological questions, the Armenian Church 
fathers did not pay much attention to them. E"ot be- 
cause they were not able, but because they were too 
able, and very far-sighted. They knew well that such 
questions can never be solved, no matter how many 
centuries pass away, no matter how great scholars 
the w^orld produces; therefore they would not enter 
into the debate. And so every Armenian scholar has 
his own theology. I confess that the Armenian 
Church has not a theology, or an especial official doc- 
trine; and this is a very fortunate thing for the Ar- 
menians. They care more for righteousness of life 
than for particular beliefs about the way of getting 
it. When there was a great controversy in the Coun- 
cil of Chalcedon, 451 A. D., about the nature of Christ, 
Armenians did not care about it. Some of the great 
theologians said Christ had two natures; some said he 
had only one nature; the Armenian bishops would 
not give any opinion. They believe in Christ as their 
Saviour, that is the essential thing; but whether He 
has two natures or one nature is not essential. Then 
came the controversy about the Holy Spirit. Whence 
does the Holy Spirit proceed ? Some say from the 
Father and the Son, some simply from the Father. 
When the question came before the Armenian bishops 
they replied that they did not care whence He pro- 
ceeds. They know that they need the Holy Spirit 
for guidance in spiritual life, for regeneration; they 



106 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

know that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons in the 
Trinity; and that is enough for them. 

N^ow I would ask, do the theologians of the nine- 
teenth century agree on such questions, or any other 
theological question ? Are the theologians of the 
coming centuries going to agree on them ? I leave 
this to the scholars of Europe and America. I sim- 
ply state that I studied in three different theological 
seminaries in America; first in Oberlin, in 1880; sec- 
ond in Union Theological Seminary, New York, in 
1881; and finally I was graduated from the Chicago 
Theological Seminary. But I never saw a theologian 
who could agree with any other, and have no hope 
ever to see any such. President Fairchild of Oberlin 
differed from Professor Shedd of J^ew York, and Pro- 
fessor Boardman of Chicago did not agree with either 
of them; and I never agreed with any of them, and as 
an Armenian I have my own theology. So every 
reader of this book will see that the Armenian scholars 
had the best judgment, far-sightedness, and common 
sense of those in any or all the communions. In- 
stead of theological controversies, they preached the 
gospel and reached the masses, for the Kingdom of 
Christ. 

THE ARMENIAN CLERGY. 

The Armenian clergy are divided into three 
classes: the pastor, the preacher, and the presiding 
bishop. The pastor is called Yeretz, the preacher is 
called Yartabed, and the presiding bishop is called 
Yebisgobos (Episcopus). The presiding bishop or- 



- THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 107 

dains the preacher and the teacher. The Armenians 
believe in apostolic succession, and they believe in 
immersion. Baptism can be administered both to 
grown people and to children, if they are the children 
of members of the church; but always by immersion, 
and in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. If you unite the present Episcopal 
church with the Baptist, you will make an Armenian 
church. All the clergy of the Armenian church, 
bishops, preachers, and teachers, were married in 
the early centuries. Gregory the Illuminator, the 
first bishop of Armenia, was married. His sons were 
bishops, and were married. There was no church law 
whatever against marriage of the clergy. At present 
the bishop and the preacher, or the Yebisgobos and the 
Yartabed, cannot marry, but the pastor or Yeretz 
must be married. 'No Armenian pastor can be or- 
dained if he is not married. 

Of course I am not writing here an Armenian 
church history; the main object in ^\T:"iting this book 
is to inform the American public about the causes of 
the atrocities, and the atrocities themselves. There- 
fore I consider the above information about the Ar- 
menian church enough; but I will add that the Ar- 
menian church until the twelfth century was as sim- 
ple in ceremonial as any American Protestant church 
is to-day. But when their kingdom was coming to an 
end, and they were in a life-and-death struggle with 
the Mohammedan powers, Popes Innocent, Benedict, 
and others promised to help them if they would ac- 



108 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

cept some of the Roman doctrines and ritual; and 
since that time — the twelfth century — there has 
been more or less similarity in the ceremonial of the 
two churches. But Armenians have never believed in 
the Pope, and now they are getting rid of the Roman 
ritual also, as it is foreign to them. 

Before I finish this subject, I must give a little 
information about the Armenian Patriarch in Con- 
stantinople, and the Armenian Catholicos of Etch- 
miazin. There are many people in this country who 
do not know the difference between the Patriarch and 
the Catholicos. The difference between them is as fol- 
lows: The Patriarch at Constantinople has nothing 
to do with religion, though he is a bishop. As a per- 
sonal bishop, he goes to the church, and occasionally 
preaches and leads the pastors, but his duty is political. 
He is the political head of the Armenians in Con- 
stantinople, and responsible to the Sultan for the Ar- 
menian nation who live in Turkey. The Armenians 
are not anxious to have such a political head; it is sim- 
ply the wish of the Sultan, or it has been the wishes of 
the Sultans in centuries gone by. The present Patri- 
arch, Right Rev. Bishop Izmirlian, is a very learned, 
experienced, and eloquent bishop. He is very popu- 
lar; the whole Armenian nation love and esteem him; 
but the Sultan hates him, because he is brave, honest, 
and true. The Sultan ordered him to send out false 
reports, alleging that the Armenians were not being 
massacred, but were safe and prospering under Abdul 
Hamid's reign; but the Patriarch refused to issue any 




THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCH. 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 109 

such documents while in fact the Armenians were 
being plundered, tortured, outraged, and killed. The 
Patriarch's life is consequently in great danger, but the 
Patriarch says that if it is necessary to sacrifice his life 
for his beloved nation, he is ready to die. 

The Armenian Catholicos is the spiritual head of 
the Armenian church; he has nothing to do with 
politics. He is considered to be fallible, and he is 
elected both by bishops and laymen; and if the na- 
tion is not satisfied with him, they may remove him 
and elect another. He is a presiding bishop. He 
lives at Etchmiazin (the former Yagharshabad) north 
of Mt. Ararat in Kussia; it has been the seat of the 
Pontiff since the time of St. Gregory. The present 
CathoHcos is Kt. Eev. Bishop Mugurditch Kirimian. 
He is very much esteemed and loved by the Armenians 
throughout the world. Before he became Catholicos, 
he was Patriarch in Constantinople, and was the most 
popular and the ablest of Patriarchs, but the present 
Sultan of course hated him, and according to stories 
I heard from good authority, when I was in Constan- 
tinople, tried repeatedly to kill him. One day he 
was summoned to the palace to see the Sultan; but on 
arriving there, was instead locked into a room with a 
brazier of burning charcoal, and left to die. Before 
it was too late, however, the Russian Ambassador, 
being informed of the attempt, saved his life. Pall- 
ing to get rid of him that way, the Sultan banished 
him to Jerusalem, but sent false reports to the news- 
papers, that he thought highly of the Patriarch, and 



110 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

liad given him money to go to Jerusalem that he 
might improve his health and enjoy himself. The 
Sultan lives and breathes falsehood. 

While in Jerusalem, Kirimian was shadowed by 
the Sultan's detectives; but about three years ago he 
was elected Catholicos bv the Armenians, and the Rus- 
sian Czar (not the present one, but his father, Alex- 
ander), sanctioned his election. The Armenians are 
proud of him, for he is worthy of his office. He is a 
great scholar, and the author of several books which 
are worthy of translation into English. His book 
Traghti Endanik (the family of Paradise), is the best 
book I ever saw or read in any language on family 
life. In it he describes the first holy family, which 
was created in the Garden of Eden, in Armenia, and 
then goes on to describe a holy family, the ideal fam- 
ily, a true home. It is full of the Holy Spirit, Cath- 
olicos Kirimian was married and had a family, and 
really his family was a holy family and he had an 
ideal home, — therefore Armenians call him Kirimian 
Hayrig or " father,'' and he is worthy of the title; 
but his wife died. He is also a great ora- 
tor, preaching fiery gospel sermons as our great- 
est revivalists preach them. He loved the Am- 
erican missionaries in Constantinople, and they 
returned the feeling. Kirimian was born in Van 
April 16, 1820; therefore he is now 76 years old, but 
full of life and vigor. I hope he will live longer, to 
see his beloved nation and country saved from the 
oppressions of the cruel Turkish Sultan. I could 



THE ar:menian dynasties. Ill 

write a book on the life of Kirimian and his great 
deeds in Armenia, for the Armenians ; how he opened 
schools and established printing presses; how he wetit 
to the Congress in Berlin and championed the Armen- 
ian cause; and all his noble works. But this is not 
the place. 

THE PAKRADOONIAN DYNASTY. 
For a century after the Mohammedan conquest 
of Persia, the fortunes of Armenia were apparently at 
their lowest ebb, and as a country it almost disappears 
from history ; but by one of the compensations of na- 
ture, which provides that human force, like other 
force, cannot be extinguished, but if suppressed will 
find an outlet elsewhere, its people began a career of 
brilliancy and power unequaled in its history, and 
broadened from the rule of a tormented buffer-state 
to that of the great Byzantine Empire itself. The 
Saracen torrent flowed over Armenia's lowlands and 
up to the base of its mountain fortresses, but never 
overcame them; generation after generation the con- 
tending forces battled together, surging back and forth, 
and filling the beautiful valleys with fire and blood, 
but Armenia proper was never added to the list of 
Saracen conquests, never made a part of the Moham- 
medan Empire or strengthened Mohammedanism 
till four centuries later through Byzantine greed and 
folly. Internally it was all in feudal anarchy again 
so far as concerned any one central focus of gov- 
ernment. Even the Persian satraps had gone from 
the Persian side, and with them the half -control they 



112 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

liad kept over tlie turbulent baronage; on the Roman 
side from early in the seventh century to early in the 
eighth, the throne of Constantinople was filled with 
weak and unstable monarchs, fighting for Anatolia 
against the Saracens, and unable to exercise any ef- 
fective control over Armenia, to which indeed they 
looked as a frontier defense against those very foes. 

But let us not attach too harsh a meaning to " an- 
archy.'' There were a hundred rulers, it is true, great 
dukes and barons, each supreme in his own district; 
but because they held power by the sword against a 
savage enemy, their subjects had to be a strong, inde- 
pendent race, with arms in their hands, which they 
would use against their chiefs as well as the foreign- 
ers if there was great oppression. In this fiery school, 
Armenia learned the sternest lessons of self-help and 
discipline. With no interference from outsiders to 
fear, and no help from them to be got, it became even 
more confirmed in its own independent isolated ways, 
a world to itself as it has been ever since. Its culti- 
^'ato-rs tilled their fields as they had done for so many 
centuries, and its scholars read such books as they 
had, and wrote such as their own minds furnished. 
But vast numbers of its hardy sons took service in 
the Greek armies, and became the bone and sinew of 
the defense of Asia Minor against the caliphs ; not only 
so, but they rose by hundreds to the highest commands 
in the empire, both civil and military. They formed 
the best " society " in Constantinople itself; and to 
crown all, a score of emperors and empresses in four 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 113 

different lines, including the most illustrious ones that 
ever sat on the throne from Constantine down, and 
who ruled the empire for two hundred and seventy- 
seven years, were Armenians. 

It is within the truth, and can be justified from the 
greatest of English historians, to say that for four 
centuries the Byzantine Empire was not a Greek but 
an Armenian empire. Armenians by blood filled all 
the great offices of state, commanded the armies, occu- 
pied the throne for nearly three hundred years, pre- 
served the empire from external invasion and internal 
disintegration. It was the accession of an Armenian 
dynasty that turned it from a decaying power to one 
that expanded steadily for two centuries, from one 
falling into anarchy to one the glory of the world for 
scientific organizations; and it was the final overthrow 
of Armenian influence that ruined the empire, being 
followed almost at once by the loss of half its territory 
and the richest part, and the break-up of its system of 
civil administration. Everywhere in the time of 
Byzantine glory you find the list full of Armenian 
names. The appearance of " Bardas '' as the name of 
generals or civil magnates is always proof of Ar- 
menian blood, and that name is monotonously com- 
mon; it is the Greek form of " Vartan," though now 
and then they make it ^^ Bardanes." One of the 
greatest conquerors in Byzantine history, John Kur- 
kuas, was an Armenian, from a family which sup- 
plied three generations of statesmen and generals, and 
two great emperors. And this is part of what the 



114 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

immortal liistorian of " Greece Under Foreign Dom- 
ination," George Finlay, has to say: — 

" At the accession of Leo III (717), the Hellenic 
race occupied a very subordinate position in the em- 
pire. The predominant influence in the political ad- 
ministration was in the hands of Asiatics, and par- 
ticularly of Armenians, who filled the highest mili- 
tary commands. Of the numerous rebels who as- 
sumed the title of emperor, the greater part were Ar- 
menians. Artabasdos, who rebelled against his broth- 
er, Constantine Y, was an Armenian. Alexios Mou- 
sel, strangled by order of Constantine YI, in the 
year 790; Bardan called the Turk, who rebelled 
against Nicephorus I; Arsaber [Arshavir] the 
father-in-law of Leo Y, convicted of treason in 
808; and Thomas, who revolted against Mich- 
ael II, were all Asiatics, and most of them Ar- 
menians. Many of the Armenians in the Byzan- 
tine Empire belonged to the oldest and most illustrious 
families in the Christian world; and their connection 
with the remains of Roman society at Constantinople, 
in which the pride of birth was cherished, was a proof 
that Asiatic influence had eclipsed Roman and Greek 
in the government of the empire. An amazing in- 
stance of the influence of Asiatic prejudices at Con- 
stantinople will appear in the eagerness displayed by 
Basil I, a Sclavonian groom from Macedonia, to claim 
descent from the Armenian royal family." (But I 
shall show that he was an Armenian.) 

Let us note the Armenian sovereigns of the 
Byzantine Empire. First the great Iconoclast house, 
of Leo the so-called Isaurian, the saviour and restorer 
of the empire, which reigned from 716 to 797. Leo 
considered himself an Armenian, and he ought to have 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 115 

known best, and he married his daughter to an Ar- 
menian. He saved Constantinople from capture by 
the Saracens, causing the destruction of the finest 
Mohammedan army ever got together; of its 180,000 
men only 30,000 got back home, according to the 
Mohammedan historians. Twenty-two years later 
another great Moslem army was annihilated by Leo, 
and for two centuries the Saracens scarcely troubled 
the empire again. But not only so, he remodeled the 
whole administration so effectively that no serious 
break-down occurred for three centuries, and he put 
new life into the whole society, so that it began to 
outgrow its enemies, as well as outfight them. After 
his able dynasty ended, another Armenian, Leo Y, 
reigned seven and a half years, from 813 to 820. 
About half a century later began the Basilian dy- 
nasty, under which the laws were codified, and Bul- 
garia destroyed. Basil was born in Macedonia, but 
the name of his brother, Symbatios, Armenian Simpad, 
shows that he was of an Armenian family, the col- 
onies of Armenians having spread all over the civilized 
world. His line reigned without a break from 867 
to 963, when the beautiful widow Theophano was 
pushed aside for sixteen years by another Armenian 
house, Mkephoros Phokas and his nephew John Zim- 
iskes, two of the ablest generals and statesmen ever on 
the throne, descendants of a brother of the great com- 
mander, John Kurkuas, before spokeT* of; then Theo- 
phano's son, Basil II — Boulgaroktonos, the Bulga- 
rian slayer, and the ultimate destroyer of Armenia as 



116 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

well — took the throne, 979, and the dynasty con- 
tinued till 1057, when it had run to dregs, and had 
just before finally ruined Armenia, and by so doing 
ruined the empire. 

To go back to Armenia itself. The reason a feu- 
dal anarchy always ends in a military monarchy, no 
matter how able or self-willed every one of the sepa- 
rate chiefs may be, is that this very class most in- 
terested in perpetuating it grow weary of it. The 
stronger barons oppress and plunder the weaker, who 
are always superior in numbers, and in united strength 
if they will act together. A small lord may like to 
be free from control by the king's officers as well as 
a great one ; but if he can only have that privilege by 
letting his overbearing neighbor be free from it too, 
and rob him, he finds it does not pay, and sighs for a 
law that will control everyone alike, and a strong ruler 
to enforce it. So if a chief in such a community comes 
to. be known as having a hard hand and letting no one 
be above the law but himself, the small landholders 
flock under his banner; he grows into a prince, and 
eventually some prince of such a family will make 
himself king, with the goodwill and help of all but a 
few great houses, who feel able to take care of them- 
selves and desirous of taking care of others. 

This happened in Armenia. In 743, a century 
after the battle of ITehavend and four years after Leo's 
crushing defeat of the second great Saracen army, we 
find that a chief named A shod, of the family of Pak- 
rad or Bagrat, claiming descent from the ancient Jews 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. Il7 

(see the Haigian dynasty in this book), had man- 
aged to win control over central and northern Ar- 
menia; how long it had been exercised, or what it 
grew from, no one knows. Ashod I is the first known 
founder of the Pakradoonian dynasty, though it is 
counted as beginning from the recognition of its in- 
dependence by the caliphs over a century later. He 
recovered some parts of Armenia proper^ and fought 
hard for Lesser Armenia. The family had vigorous 
blood in it, and somewhere in the ninth century — 885 
is the date fixed — it was recognized by the caliphs as 
an independent house of kings, and Armenia as a king- 
dom. But it had really been so for over a hundred 
years before. 

Ashod II, "the Iron," gained his title from his 
stern military powder; he beat back the Arabs and gave 
the land peace for a considerable time. He left no 
son, and his brother Appas siTcceeded him; another 
brave and wise ruler, who brought back the Armen- 
ian captives held in bondage by the Saracens. He 
made the city of Kars his capital. It is now owned by 
Russia, having been captured by her forces in the 
Russo-Turkish war of 1878. He greatly improved 
the city, and built a beautiful cathedral there. After 
a reign of twenty-four years he died in peace, and his 
son succeeded him as Ashod III. 

This was the glory of the line in prowess and gen- 
erosity; he reminds one of Alfred the Great, in Eng- 
land. He was the terror of his country's enemies; 
not one of them — Arab, Greek, or Persian — dared 



118 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

to invade Armenia, and they sent presents to conciliate 
his friendship. It was under him that the country be- 
came formally independent again. He filled it with 
fortified places. He gave all his personal income in 
charity, and established almshouses and state chari- 
ties. He was so benevolent and so interested in the 
destitute that he was called The Merciful. He ruled 
over Armenia twenty-six years, and was succeeded by 
his son Simpad. This was neither a good man nor 
good ruler; corrupt, cruel, and ambitious only for 
selfish purposes. He made the city of Ani, on the 
north side of Mt. Ararat, the royal capital, built strong 
walls and lofty towers around it, and is said to have 
erected 1001 churches in it — which he might do, and 
still be a bad man. The extent of its still existing 
ruins of palaces, churches, towers, and castles testifies 
that it was one of the great cities of the world, like 
Babylon and Antioch. 

For more than a century Armenia flourished and 
grew rich; then it disappeared once more under the 
hammer and anvil of Byzantine and Saracen, aided by 
internal disruption — the traitorousness of its great 
nobles, who hated the kings for controlling their law- 
lessness. Let us take in just its situation. It included 
the heart of the Armenian highlands; but it had not 
the extent of old Armenia, several Armenian districts 
being independent of it, and either free or tributary to 
the Byzantine Empire. Ani was its seat; but the dis- 
trict around Kars, fifty miles northwest, had split off 
into a separate principality, the boundary between the 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 119 

two being the Aras; on the east was Yaspourakan, 
another princedom; on the west Sebaste, another; on 
the north Iberia, and Abkhasia or Abasgia or Albania, 
the realms of the Georgians ; and one or two others not 
quite certain, — but all these ruled by Armenian 
princes, mostly of the Pakradoonian house. Though 
Armenia was in fragments, therefore, the pieces 
formed a sort of family confederacy, and often acted 
together, as they did to their eventual ruin. Their 
folly paved the way for the destruction of Armenian 
national existence, and the worse folly of a Byzan- 
tine emperor accomplished it. About 1020 the Sel- 
juk Turks were pressing so hard on Yaspourakan that 
the prince, Sennacherib, was unable to hold out, and 
ceded his dominion to Basil II of Constantinople in 
return for the sovereignty of Sebaste, which he agreed 
to hold as a Byzantine governor; great numbers of 
his subjects went with him. Something about this 
transaction roused the Armenian national feeling to 
resentment; for John Simpad, king of Armenia 
(known at this time as the Kingdom of Ani, from its 
capital), joined with George the Pakradoonian kins; 
of Iberia, to promise help to a couple of discontented 
generals, one at least an Armenian, who were to raise 
the standard of revolt in Cappadocia and call on all 
Armenians to rise. It was to have been a general re- 
volt of all eastern Asia Minor. But the mighty Basil, 
conqueror of Bulgaria, and nearing the end of his half- 
century's reign, first crushed the rebellion by buying 
up one of the generals and getting him to assassinate 



120 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the other (the Armenian), and then crushed the league 
of Bagratian kings. The king of Armenia, as the 
price of retaining his throne, was compelled to sign a 
treaty ceding the kingdom to the Byzantine Empire 
after his death. 

John Simpad was succeeded by his nephew Kakig, 
an able ruler and good general. But in 1042 there was 
placed on the Byzantine throne the fourth husband 
of the despicable old female (Zoe), whose male crea- 
tures, married or not married to her, misgoverned 
the empire for nearly thirty years. The reign of Con- 
stantine Monomachos stands out black in the history 
of the world; it not only destroyed Armenia, but it 
fatally wounded the Greek Empire; it gave Asia 
Minor to the Turks; it was the first great step towards 
subjecting Eastern Christianity to the Mohammedans; 
it began the Eastern Question. The sack of Constan- 
tinople by the Turks, four centuries later, was directly 
due to it. Almost never has sheer contemptible neg- 
ative good-for-nothingness produced such awful re- 
sults. He was a worthless man and an utterly incap- 
able statesman; a libertine without decency, a spend- 
thrift without generosity or taste, a ruler without sense 
of responsibility. Having spent on debauchery or his 
favorites, or diversions, or palaces in Constantinople, 
or other selfish, short-sighted gratifications, or on the 
church to win its indulgence for them, all the money 
he could wring from his subjects without risking his 
throne, he bethought himself of another resource. 
The provinces on the frontiers of Iberia, Armenia, 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 121 

and Syria, were exempted from taxation, and the small 
dependent states in that region from tribute, in con- 
sideration of maintaining bodies of militia to defend 
their territories, and save the central government from 
keeping regular troops there. The emperor ordered 
the militia disbanded, and the taxes and tribute col- 
lected and remitted to Constantinople as from other 
places. This monstrous piece of imbecility laid the 
southeastern frontier open to the Turks at once; and 
the money was quickly wasted in the emperor's pleas- 
ures. But even this w^as not enough, and he cast his 
eyes on Armenia as a rich country to squeeze taxes 
out of, and sent word to Kakig to fulfill his uncle's will, 
and yield up his kingdom. Kakig refused. Con- 
stantino formed an alliance with the Saracen emir of 
Tovin (on the east flank of Armenia), and sent an 
army to attack Ani; and a number of the great Ar- 
menian nobles turned traitors and joined the Byzan- 
tine forces. Kakig could not make head against the 
three allies with the slender forces left him ; and choos- 
ing to yield to Christians rather than Saracens, though 
Constantino e^ddently had no such scruples, surren- 
dered iVni to the imperial forces (1045), and went to 
Constantinople to plead his cause with the emperor. 
Constantino would not yield, and Kakig resigned his 
kingship for a magistracy, and large estates in Cappa- 
docia. The emperor forced the Catholicos to leave 
Ani and live at Arzen, then at Constantinople ; finally 
the Comnenian house allowed him to settle in Sebaste 
among his people. The princedom of Kars alone 



122 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

preserved its independence against both Christians 
and Saracens, and thus the Armenian life still beat; 
but as a kingdom, Armenia perished and the Pakra- 
doonian dynasty with it when Ani surrendered. 

This piece of wanton foolishness and criminality 
had its immediate reward; it laid all x\.sia Minor open 
to the Turks — for the Armenians after they had lost 
their independence would not fight for their oppress- 
ors as they had fought for themselves; and the Turks 
were ready. Three years before the capture of Ani, 
a Turkish chief, cousin of Togrul Beg, flying after 
a defeat, had asked the Byzantine governor of Yas- 
pourakan to let him pass through that district; on 
being refused, he attacked the imperial troops, routed 
them, captured the governor, and on reaching Turkish 
ground sold him as a slave, and urged Togrul to in- 
vade the Byzantine territories, as they were of match- 
less fertility and wealth, and the troops not formid- 
able. Togrul sent his nephew Ibrahim to do so in 
1048; the timid Byzantine commanders, after defeat- 
ing a detachment of his troops, waited for reinforce- 
ments before encountering the main body, and Ibra- 
him, finding the movable wealth mostly stored up in 
fortresses, assailed the rich, unfortified city of Arzen, 
with 300,000 people, who had neglected to transfer 
their possessions to Theodosiopolis, the nearest fortress. 
It was one of the chief seats of Asiatic commerce, full 
of the warehouses of Armenian and Syrian merchants. 
They defended themselves for six days with such des- 
peration that Ibrahim, giving up the hope of plunder, 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 123 

and wishing at once to secure his rear from attack 
while retreating, and to injure Byzantine resources, 
set fire to the city, and reduced it to ashes. Few such 
conflagrations have ever been witnessed on earth; per- 
haps Moscow and Chicago are the only things com- 
parable. It is said that 140,000 persons perished in 
the fire and in the massacre by the Turks that fol- 
lowed, and the prisoners taken were such a multi- 
tude that the slave markets of Asia were filled with 
ladies and children from Arzen. This was the first of 
the many such calamities that have dispersed the Ar- 
menians all over the world, like the Jews, have re- 
duced one of the richest and most populous countries 
on the earth to a poor and thinly populated one, and 
turned Asia Minor practically into a desert. The next 
year Kars was overrun; but in 1050 an attack on 
Manzikert failed, and after an unsuccessful invasion 
again in 1052, the Turks retired for a while, but only 
for a more terrible onslaught. 

Before going on to the next dynasty, I will finish 
the story of Kakig. In his Cappadocian magistracy 
he was still called King Kakig and honored as a king. 
One day he heard that a Greek bishop had called his 
dog " Arm en " to insult the Armenians, and went to 
his house to make sure, and to exact vengeance if it 
were true. They drank heavily together, and Kakig 
ordered the bishop to call his dog; the bishop, too 
drunk to know what he was about, called him " Here, 
Armen.'' Kakig, in a rage, ordered his retainers 
to put the bishop and his dog into a bag together, 



124 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

and then beat the dog till lie bit liis master to death. 
The church was too powerful for even a king to murder 
a bislio]3 with impunity, and Kakig was hanged on a 
castle wall. This gave rise to the Turkish proverb, 
^^ Kart Giavour musliman almaz, Room Ermenie 
dost almaz " (An infidel never becomes a Moslem, a 
Greek never loves an Armenian). The Turks have 
always acted on this, and used the Greeks against the 
Armenians; but the old hate has died out now under 
common oppression. 

THE RUPENIAN DYNASTY. 
The imbecile policy of the Byzantine Court con- 
tinued after the suppression of the line of Pakrad, and 
with even worse results. Having destroyed the in- 
terest and even the right of Armenia to keep up an 
army of her owm, and confiscated her revenues ap- 
plied to that purpose, the loss of defenders should have 
been made good as far as possible, by keeping a large 
regular army there in their place; but the same cor- 
rupt and profligate court avarice which had caused 
the one, prevented the other. ISTot only did Constan- 
tine X (1059-67) actually reduce the number of his 
army, leave it unprovided with arms and ammunition 
and other supplies, let the frontier fortifications fall 
out of repair, and leave the garrison unpaid, to save 
money for his overgrown court of costly favorites 
(the Byzantine court a little later cost $20,000,000 a 
year by itself), and let the officers put civilians on the 
rolls, and made artisans and shop-keepers of their 
real soldiers to pocket fraudulent pay for themselves, 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 125 

as the Persians do now, but lie used to disband most of 
his army after every campaign to save paying them, 
letting them have free quarters on the citizens. The 
Seljuks were prompt to take advantage of this. In 
1060 Togrul sacked Sebaste. In 1063 his greater 
nephew Alp Arslan began a series of raids that soon 
reduced Iberia and Northern Armenia almost to a 
waste. The systematic policy of the Turks was to 
make any country they invaded impossible of civilized 
habitation again, by obliterating all the results and 
" plant '' of civilization which many ages of labor and 
money had enriched it with. They deliberately cut 
down all the vineyards, orchards, and olive groves, 
wrecked the aqueducts, filled up the wells and cisterns, 
broke up the bridges, and in short made the land (ex- 
cept for a few fortresses) a mere desert pasture ground 
to feed their cattle on. They were only nomad shep- 
herds and cattle-men, despised cities as at best neces- 
sary evils, and did not care for tilling the soil. What- 
ever spot the Turk has set his foot on, he has blasted 
like a breath from hell, turning to naught the labors 
of thousands of years at a blow ; and he has never put 
anything of his own in place of what he has destroyed. 
Where are the Turkish great cities developed by them, 
the Turkish flourishing agricultural regions, the Turk- 
ish manufactures, the Turkish literature or art ? At 
most they have not quite been able to exterminate 
others' progress, because they must perish themselves 
in doing it. 

The Armenian king of Iberia had to submit; the 



126 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Armenian prince of Lorhi close by had to give his 
daughter's hand to Alp Arslan; and at last the royal 
city of Ani, though strongly situated on a rocky penin- 
sula and protected on two sides by a rapid river and 
a deep ravine, was left without help by the Byzan- 
tines, and in spite of a heroic defense, was taken by 
storm, June 6, 1064. This convinced the Armenian 
prince of Kars (another Kakig), that he could not 
hold out; he surrendered his province to the Byzan- 
tine Empire for the appanage of the district of Amas- 
sia. This removed the last Armenian prince from 
the old seats of the race, which were now all occupied 
by the Turks; and the Armenians emigrated in vast 
numbers to the districts west and south (old Cappado- 
cia and Cilicia), where their native princes were liv- 
ing as great Byzantine dukes and governors. A num- 
ber of semi-independent vassal principalities were soon 
formed, making as before an Armenian wall between 
the Turks and the empire ; but only part way, and far 
weaker, having left its impregnable mountains, and 
being much poorer, and having lost heart. The upper 
part, through Old Armenia, was left wholly open ; and 
the Seljuks poured into Asia Minor like a flood, ruin- 
ing the country beyond reparation as they went. 
Within a dozen years from the capture of Ani, the 
Seljuk dominion reached to Mcaea, fifty miles from 
Constantinople, and the seat of the first Christian 
church council. Its lands could be seen from St. So- 
phia; the Byzantine Empire retained only a strip of 
Asia Minor along the sea-coast. 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 127 

But the Armenian courage and national spirit, 
and the political and military ability which had gov- 
erned the Eastern Empire so many centuries, were not 
extinct. The heart of the nation, forced out of its 
immemorial lands, still beat strongly, and animated 
their mass of dukedoms, now forming a compact body 
in the center of Asia Minor, with a common life and 
national instinct, which was soon to weld them into a 
new Armenian kingdom, as true and real a one as the 
old, Armenians under an Armenian prince, but in a 
wholly different territory, south and southwest of tlie 
former. Among the great barons of this district was 
one Rupen (Reuben), a relative of the slain Kakig; it 
is said that he saw him hanged. At any rate, no sooner 
was the deed accomplished than he retired to the moun- 
tains of ^Northeastern Cilicia, and raised the standard 
of Armenian independence, with himself as king. 
There was absolutely no reason why it should 
not be gained; the Seljuk conquests had cut the 
Armenian districts wholly off from the Greek 
Empire, so that a Greek army could not come 
upon them to punish them for revolt Avithout 
traversing at least a hundred miles of Turkish or 
other Mohammedan territory. The Armenian set- 
tlements were an island in a sea of Mohammedanism. 
The new kingdom of Cilicia or Lesser Armenia grew 
with a rapidity that would seem miraculous, only it 
was a mere coalescing of the fragments of Armenia 
into their old unity ; in no long time it had spread east 
to the Euphrates, taking in Melitene (Malatia), and 



128 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Samosata, north fully half way to the Black Sea, and 
south to the Mediterranean, occupying the coast from 
Tarsus almost to Antioch. This kingdom played a 
part of the first importance in the history of Asia 
Minor for close on three centuries; its territories 
were gradually whittled away by Turks and Mongols, 
but it kept the Eastern Mediterranean open for Chris- 
tian action against the Mohammedans to the last. To 
their shame, the Byzantine emperors were much more 
hostile to it than to the Turks, with whom they often 
allied themselves against it ; for some years it was vas- 
sal to the Byzantine Empire ; later it was overwhelmed 
by the Mameluke deluge from Egypt, and allied itself 
with Jenghiz Khan's Mongol hordes against them; 
but the Mongols passed and the Mamelukes remained, 
and exacted a terrible vengeance, putting an end to 
the kingdom with the usual horrors of Oriental con- 
quest in 1375. 

Rupen's son Constantine succeeded him. It was 
by his help that the leaders of the first crusade captured 
Antioch. Constantine was succeeded by his two sons, 
Leo and Theodore jointly, but finally Leo reigned 
alone ; he was an able prince, fought the Saracens with 
success, and much enlarged his kingdom, and at last 
made a naval attack on Isaurian Seleucia, the frontier 
fortress of the Byzantine Empire in this part, and an 
important seaport. This brought ^^ Handsome John," 
the ablest of the Comnenian line of Byzantine Em- 
perors, into the field ; he stormed the Cilician seaports, 
and then reduced the chief interior fortresses ; Leo fled 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 129 

to the Taurus Mountains, but was captured, and died 
in captivity at Constantinople. His son Rupen had 
his eyes put out on a charge of treason, and died of 
it; but his other son, Toros, escaped, and after John's 
death restored the CiUcian kingdom, which had tem- 
porarily been made vassal by John. Toros is the 
glory of the whole Rupenian line; he was of the first 
rank, both as a general and a statesman. He scarcely 
ever suffered a military reverse. He beat the Byzan- 
tine armies in campaign after campaign, and the Sel- 
jnks as well; under him the new Armenia was almost 
a match for all its enemies combined, and no one of 
them dreamed of attacking it single-handed. Levon 
was another able ruler, who maintained the power 
and prosperity of the kingdom; he was an ally of the 
great Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the Third 
Crusade, assisted him in capturing Iconium (1190), 
and both Frederick and the Greek Emperor Alexius 
III sent him crowns, — the second no great honor, as 
Alexius was one of the most contemptible of human 
beings. In Levon's time the capital of the kingdom 
was Cis, where there is now a great Armenian mon- 
astery with rare manuscripts, the residence of a Cath- 
olicos. The changes in the extent of the kingdom 
are very curious ; perhaps most curious of all (since the 
Armenians were always a race of inland and high- 
land farmers, not seamen), the new kingdom was grad- 
ually crowded down on the north and lost two-thirds 
of its territory in that direction, but steadily extended 
along the coast until it came to include not only all 



130 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Cilicia but all of old Isaiiria clear to its western moun- 
tain barrier; hundreds of miles of seaboard, from close 
to Antioch on the one side, to far west of Cyprus on the 
other, being indeed a strong maritime power. At the 
end it had lost these western coast extensions, but still 
had an area larger than that of the Crimea now, a very 
considerable power to hold the northeast corner of the 
Mediterranean. 

It was during these times that the hard-pressed 
Armenians received promises from the Popes to help 
them against their enemies if they would use the 
Roman ritual and ceremonial, and submit themselves 
to the papacy. The country never did accept Ro- 
manism, though some churches introduced the ritual 
and images, and conformed to the Roman fashion; 
and of course it never did get any help from the popes, 
who had nothing to give but recommendations, which 
the temporal powers paid no attention to. 

Levon YI was the last of the line. He was a weak, 
easy-going man, handsome and popular, but not of 
much ability; perhaps he could not have saved his 
country if he had been. I have told of the Mamelukes 
and their invasion; they overran the country, and 
treated the people as the Turks have done lately, 
striking terror to them by terrific massacres, satiating 
their lust on the women, and carrying off many thou- 
sands of captives for wives or slaves. Levon was taken 
captive also; after some years in Egypt, he was per- 
mitted to go free, wandered through Europe for a 
dozen years, and finally settled in Paris, where he died 



THE ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 131 

in 1393. He was buried by the high altar of the 
Church of the Celestine; the following epitaph is on 
his monument, which still exists to-day : 

Here lies Levon VI, the noble Lousinian Prince, 
the King of Armenia, 
who died 1393, A.D., Nov. 23d, in Paris. 

I have been dealing here with the special kingdom 
of Armenia, under a regular king; but it must not 
be forgotten that the older sections, ruled by Greek 
or Turk, were Armenia still, inhabited largely by Ar- 
menians, in spite of emigration and Turkish settle- 
ment, and their fortunes really part of this history. 
Under both Jenghiz Khan and his successors, and 
Timour,yevery horror was let loose on the unhappy 
lands.* For nearly a century the first Tatar invasion 
cursed and devasted it; hundreds of villages were 
destroyed, the inhabitants slain or at the mercy of 
the savages, and vast numbers emigrated in despair. 
Among others, the cities of Ani and Erzeroum were 
captured, and every inhabitant put to the sword, each 
soldier being given his portion to kill, so that none 
should escape. Timour compelled all whom he 
spared to become Mohammedans. When he took the 
city of Yan, he threw the inhabitants from the castle 
walls until the dead bodies reached to the height of 
the walls. A great famine followed, and many thou- 
sands died of it; the starving wretches sometimes ate 
their children or parents to sustain life a little longer. 
The reader will see later whether the modern Turks 
have any superiority over the hordes of the thirteenth 
or fifteenth century. 



lY. 
KULEES OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIKE. 

SULTANS OF THE PAST. 

The Ottoman Empire begins with Othman, born 
1258 A.D. ; the dynasty is usually counted from the 
time of his being given a local governorship by the last 
of the Seljuk Sultans, in 1289. The tribe was simply 
one small group of families when we first hear of it; 
Othman's father Ertogrul entered the Seljuk dominion 
not many years before that date with only four hun- 
dred tents, say two thousand people in all, counting 
women and children. They had been driven from 
their homes in Central Asia by the Mongols. The 
Seljuk Sultan Ala-ed-din III made Othman governor 
of Karadja-hissar (Melangeia). ^N^ow Othman, though 
a plundering marauder like other tribal chiefs, turbu- 
lent and cruel, knew some things that better men 
never find out. He knew that impartial justice is a 
greater strength to a state and a greater lure to draw 
others to it than anything else; he made the fair at 
Karadja-hissar a model of business equity for all races 
and religions, it was thronged with traders, and other 
Turkish tribes soon flocked to the banner of the man 
who never broke his promises and dealt out even- 
handed justice. The lying Greeks never learned the 
lesson in all their history. In a dozen years he was 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. IgS 

able to collect an army of 5,000 soldiers, beat a Byzan- 
tine force sent against him, overrun a large province 
of Asia Minor, and with the plunder greatly increased 
his following. He realized too that education and 
thorough practical training and moral discipline were 
the foundations of success; most of us know that now, 
but few understood it then. But the wild and bar- 
barous Turks could not be educated and disciplined 
as he wished, — would not stand it and were incapable 
of profiting by it, — and so he or his son Orkhan de- 
veloped the terrible system which for centuries made 
the " Turks " irresistible, which made the '' Turks " 
seem to increase rapidly, and makes the '' Turks " to- 
day appear numerous while in fact not one drop in ten 
of the blood in their veins is Turkish at all. This was 
to exact from the Christian population — Greek or 
Armenian chiefly — a regular tribute of boys as well 
as money. These were taken from their parents at 
about eight years old, educated and trained in the 
household of the Ottoman Sultan himself, of course 
drilled in the Mohammedan religion, and gradually 
inducted into the highest posts, civil or military, if 
fit for them, or made into a special body guard for the 
Sultan. These were called " yeni cheri '^ (new 
soldiers), which is familiar to everybody in the form 
" Janissaries." From that day to this, the Turkish 
system has been built up by foreign blood, and outside 
of the Sultanate pretty much entirely by foreign 
brains; it was the constant infusion of fresh civilized 
Christian ability and moral character into it that kept 



134 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

its inherent defects and vices from bringing it to an 
end long ago. Finally the system partly rotted out 
and partly became impossible to enforce for fear of 
revolution (Sultan Mahmoud ended it in 1826); but 
never outside of this has a tribe of barbarians ever 
succeeded so completely in impressing into its own 
service the powers of a higher race. It is as though 
horses should have regularly broken and driven teams 
of men for centuries ; even more usefully to the Turks, 
because intermarriage (largely by force on their part) 
has filled their own veins with civilized Armenian 
and other blood. As soon as this reinforcement 
stopped, the Turks began to decay. 

I cannot enter even in outline into the political 
history of the Armenians during the next few cen- 
turies. The country has been torn into fragments, 
and each fragment has a history so separate that there 
would be no unity between them. One section of 
what was once Armenia would be governed by Per- 
sian officials; another occupied by the savage Kurds; 
another mis-governed and oppressed by the Turks; 
another under the rule of Russia; and so on. Persia, 
when she recovered her national being, held and still 
holds a small part of the eastern section, as I stated 
earlier in the book, Russia the north; but the heart 
of old Armenia is in Turkish hands. The Sultans 
have succeeded in mixing themselves with the natives 
and occupying their confiscated lands till the Armen- 
ians are put in a minority in their own country. 

I must correct here a notion fostered by historical 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 135 

writers, that the Turks are very brave. They may 
have been once, though I doubt it and there is no proof 
of it ; but they certainly have gotten over it now. In 
the last Turko-Russian war (1878), they ran by thous- 
ands to Christian houses for protection. They are 
just like wild dogs: savage and ferocious, but not 
brave, l^or are they wise: they have some low cun- 
ning, but no practical sagacity — that too is a thing of 
the past. As to industrial talents they have simply 
none whatever; they depend on foreigners for every- 
thing : they will not learn and indeed cannot learn, and 
never try to learn. They have never made a cannon 
or even a gun, they never built a war vessel and very 
few if any other kinds, they make neither powder nor 
shot; all come from Europe or America. Nor have 
they even decent military talent, the very thing they 
pretend is their special business: their best generals 
are Germans, their admiral for a long time was the 
Englishman Hobart, I think the Englishman Woods 
is so now. As to civil ability, their best administrators 
have always been Armenians. Bezjian Amira was 
Sultan Mahmoud's adviser; Haroun Dadian, another 
Armenian, is the chief adviser in foreign affairs of the 
present Sultan. His personal treasurer is an Ar- 
menian, Portucalian Pasha. Is this inconsistent with 
what I have said of his hating the Armenians for their 
intelligence ? !N^ot in the least: he employs them in 
spite of his hatred, because he can trust no others : the 
Turks are too stupid and all others too unsafe. 



136 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

List of Ottoman Sultans and date of accession. 



A.D. 



1. Othman I, gazi, 1299 

2. Orkhan I, gazi, 1327 

3. Murad I, gazi, 1360 

4. Bayazid I, jelderim, 1389 

5. Mohammed I, clielebi, 1413 

6. Murad II, gazi, 1421 

7. Mohammed II, fatih, 1451 

8. Bajazid II, gazi, 1481 

9. Selim I, yavouz, 1512 

10. Suleyman I, kanooni, 1520 

11. Selim II, gazi, 1566 

12. Murad III, gazi, 1574 

13. Mohammed III, gazi, 1595 

14. Ahmed I, gazi, 1603 

15. Mustafa I, ....... . 1617 

16. Othman II, guendj, 1618 

17. Murad lY, gazi, 1622 

18. Ibrahim I, 1640 

19. Mohammed IV, 1648 

20. Suleyman II, 1687 

21. Ahmed II, 1691 

22. Mustafa II, 1695 

23. Ahmed III, gazi, 1702 

24. Mahmud I, gazi, 1730 

25. Othman III, 1754 

26. Mustafa III, gazi, 1757 

27. Abdul Hamid I, gazi, . . . . . 1773 

28. Selim III, 1789 

29. Mustafa IV, 1807 

30. Mahmud II, adil, 1808 

31. Abdul Mejid I, gazi, 1839 

32. Abdul Aziz I, 1861 

33. Murad Y, 1876 

34. Abdul Hamid II, i^azi, .... 1876 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 137 

Some of the above Sultans have special titles, like 
our " William the Conqueror," " Charles the Bold," 
'' Henry Beauclerk," etc. Thus, gazi and fatih mean 
conqueror; adil, righteous; guendj, young; yavouz, 
brave; kanooni, law-giver; yelderim, lightning; che- 
lebi, gentleman. Most of them have the title gazi, or 
conqueror; the present Sultan bears it because he 
fought with Kussia. He was beaten, to be sure, but 
he took the title all the same. 

Sultan Mohammed II, who captured the city of 
Constantinople, established an Armenian Patriarchate 
there in 1461 A. D. The first Patriarch was Hova- 
guem, the Bishop of Broosa, a friend of the Sultan. 
Mohammed II had two motives in this: first, to have 
an Armenian ecclesiastical center in Constantinople 
for the nucleus of a strong Armenian settlement there, 
to play off against the Greeks from whom the city was 
taken, and who might be dangerous, whereas the feud 
between Armenians and Greeks would make each 
weaken the other; second, to have a hostage for the 
Armenians, responsible for their not breaking into 
revolt ; not at all for the benefit of the Armenians, but 
for that of the Sultan. The same reason obtains to 
this day. If there was no Patriarch, their cause 
would be much better off. After the establishment 
of this Patriarchate the Armenians had no more kings 
or princes; their political head was the Patriarch. 
Even after the Patriarchate was established they were 
not safe. They yielded to the Sultans, they became 
slaves to the Sultans, but the Persian Mohammedans 



138 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

were foes of the Turkish Mohammedans, and Armenia, 
as of old in Roman times, was the battle-ground. In 
the time of Sultan Ahmed and Shah Appas, the latter 
overran Armenia and carried away the people to cap- 
tivity, besides killing hundreds of thousands. Then 
it was retaken by the Turks. Then a part of it was 
captured by the Russians. Historians write of the 
Huguenots and their sufferings; of the conflicts in 
Europe between the Catholics and the Protestants. 
How many centuries were the Protestants persecuted 
and martyred? How many millions were killed by 
the Roman Catholics? Do all the Protestant martyrs 
in Europe number as many as the Armenian martyrs ? 
I doubt it. 

And let it not be said that these were not religious 
martyrs, but merely victims of the fortunes of war or 
political conflicts. The wars were three times out of 
four based on real if not nominal grounds of religious 
antagonism, — Mohammedan or Zoroastrian against 
Christian, — or claims of religious protectorate, as 
Russia over the Armenian Christians; the political 
exigencies which called or formed a pretext for the 
massacre of myriads of men and old women, the out- 
rage of the young brides and maidens, the enslavement 
of the children, were Avithout a single exception created 
by the resistance of Christians to forced conversion, or 
the fear of Mohammedan rulers that as Christians 
thev meant to revolt, or sheer blind hatred to men of 
another creed. The victims were truly martyrs to 
Christianity. 




THE SULTAN, FROM A RECENT PORTRAIT. 

(By permission of " The Youths Companion.") 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 139 

THE PRESENT SULTAN, HAMID II. 

This is the thirty-fourth Sultan in the Ottoman 
line, and probably the worst, the least, and the last. 
It is not likely the Turks will ever have another Sul- 
tan, for this one is pretty sure to bring the Sultanate 
to an end. His days are numbered, he knows it well, 
and the Turks know it well too. Before his life and 
his kingdom are finished, he has resolved to end the 
Armenian nation; that, however, will not be ended, 
the people will not be exterminated ; when the Turkish 
Empire is abolished the remaining Armenians will 
have freedom. 

Hamid II was born September 22, 1842, second 
son of Abdul Mejid, and wrested the throne from his 
brother Mourad August 31, 1876. He is not a legiti- 
mate Sultan, but a usurper. When but a little boy 
he manifested a savage and cruel spirit. While the 
Dalma Bagsh Palace, the largest in Constantinople, 
perhaps in the world — was going up, he went to 
visit it; seeing it unfinished, he called the Armenian 
architect and told him it must be finished by the next 
day. ^^ My dear prince and lord," said the architect, 
" I wish I could finish it, but it is impossible; and es- 
pecially not to-morrow, since it is Sunday, and we 
Christians do not work on Sundays." ^^ You heathen 
dog, you Armenian," said the boy Hamid, " if I grow 
up, and some day become a Sultan, I will force all the 
Armenians to break the Sabbath, and if they do not, 
I will order the soldiers to kill them all." He is carry- 



140 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ing out his threat. He grew to manhood without be- 
coming any milder, and is morally corrupt besides. 
He has drunken bouts with worthless associates, 
and spent his time in all sorts of monstrous debauch- 
ery and brutality. He was such a miserable wretch 
that it is impossible to describe his beastly life on 
paper. There is no humanity in him, no grace, no 
sympathy, no brains, no strength; he is pale and sick, 
well worthy to be called the ^' sick man of Turkey." 
This is a very different description of him from that 
given by General Lew Wallace and Mr. Terrell. I 
can only say that I know what I am talking about, and 
they do not. I lived in Constantinople, as a native of 
Turkey, and with means of knowing, seeing him often, 
and hear authentic stories of his doings day by day. 
General Wallace was invited to the palace, feasted 
and flattered, and his wife decorated with jewels; 
naturally, he thinks no ill of a man who treated him so 
well, and with whom he hopes for more good times 
when he goes back. He has done infinite harm to the 
cause of Armenia by his popular lectures, declaring 
the atrocities '' exaggerated " (he evidently thinks that 
if a newspaper report gives ten thousand men mur- 
dered when there were only five, and all the women of 
a city violated when a dozen of them got away, 
you are entitled to dismiss the whole thing from your 
mind as of little account), and the Sultan a good man, 
incapable of such things. People are bewildered, and 
ask, " How can we doubt a good American who was 
minister there ? " Why, good people, what has his 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 141 

ministry got to do with it ? He was hundreds of miles 
from Armenia, and did not know any of the chief lan- 
guages of Constantinople, — either Armenian, Turk- 
ish, or Romanic ; and what could he tell of his host, ex- 
cept of the quality of his hospitality ? A man usually 
shows his best side to those he entertains; did he sup- 
pose the Sultan was going to amuse his guests by 
having one Armenian disemboweled, and another 
emasculated or impaled on red-hot iron rods, and a 
couple of women ravished, as a light and playful inter- 
lude between the main dishes and the dessert ? His 
praise of the Sultan is as valuable as his praise of the 
Grand Llama would be, — he knows nothing of either ; 
and his inference from the Sultanas pleasant talk that 
he could not order a nation extirpated with hideous 
cruelties, is simply imbecile. And since he h^s given 
all this loose talk, the consular reports, from English 
residents among the very scenes, have been published, 
showing that the atrocities have not only not been ex- 
aggerated, but are even worse than reported. In 
this case, even the newspapers were unable to come up 
to the truth; their rhetoric fell short of the full meas- 
ure of the awful truth. 

To go back a little: Twenty years ago Abdul 
Aziz, uncle of the present Sultan, was the ruler of the 
Ottoman Empire. He cared little for the country or 
the people; he wanted only to eat and drink, and have 
good times. He was a very strong and hearty man, 
and I was told he could eat a whole roast lamb for 
dinner, and think it probable. He had the innate 



142 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

cruelty of his family, tlieir love of blood for its own 
sake. lie had tigers and lions fight together; he 
would order a live lamb flung to a lion, and laugh to see 
the lion tear and devour it. He married all the hand- 
some girls he could find, but for pure animality; he 
cared nothing for their education or virtue, and his 
several hundred wives were what you might expect. 
One of them fell in love with the commander-in-chief, 
or Minister of War, Heussein Avni Pasha, a very 
ambitious and daring adventurer, who had gained the 
confidence of the Sultan, and went often to the palace. 
The Sultan heard of the intrigue, went to the woman's 
room, kicked her fatally, and threw her out of the 
window. But before her death, she sent word to 
Heussein to avenge her on the Sultan. Heussein' s 
position was very critical; evidently it was a race be- 
tween him and the Sultan which should kill the other 
first. He went to Midhad, the Grand Yezir, and to 
Kaysereli Ahmed, the admiral, both liberal-minded 
pashas, in favor of establishing a constitutional (or 
even if they could, a republican) government, and 
without telling them his relations to and fears from 
the Sultan, persuaded them that now was the time to 
depose the Sultan, and establish liberal institutions, 
and told them it must be done that night, or the Sultan 
would get wind of it, and then good-by to all of them. 
And he clinched the argument by telling them he 
would order his soldiers to kill both of them if they 
refused to join him, and then depose the Sultan just 
the same; " as commander-in-chief," he said, " I can 




PRESENT SULTAN, HAMID II. 
From an early portrait. 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. I43 

compel obedience^ and I am in earnest." They con- 
sented, and while the Sultan was asleep that night the 
commander's soldiers and the admiral's sailors sur- 
rounded the palace by the land and sea. This was 
the Dalma Bagsh, the largest and handsomest palace 
in Constantinople. Heussein entered, saying he had 
important news for the Sultan. Going to the chamber 
where Aziz was sleeping, he awakened him, and said, 
"In the name of your nephew. Sultan Murad, I de- 
pose you." Then he compelled him to go down-stairs 
to a boat in waiting, filled with soldiers, carried him to 
Cheragan Palace, and imprisoned him there; after 
which he informed the Sultan's nephew, then Prince 
Murad, that his uncle had been deposed because the 
people would not endure him, and added, " As the 
oldest in the royal family you succeed him, and I, as 
commander-in-chief, have the honor and privilege of 
humbly serving my master, and leading your majesty 
to the throne of the Ottoman Empire." 

Murad was too astonished to know w^hat to do or 
say ; but Heussein was resolute, and Murad reluctantly 
followed him to the Dalma Bagsh; there the com- 
mander ordered the soldiers to cry out three times 
" Padishahum chock yasa " (Long live the Sultan). 
All this was about midnight; and meantime printed 
notices were prepared and scattered throughout Con- 
stantinople that Sultan Aziz was deposed and Sultan 
Murad was on the throne. After a few days the 
commander-in-chief sent a eunuch and a physician to 
Cheragan Palace, with orders to put Aziz to death. 



144 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

They did so by chloroforming him and cutting his 
blood-vessels with scissors. Heussein prepared a false 
report stating that he had committed suicide, and 
brought it to Sultan Murad. The latter did not be- 
lieve it, and said, " you killed my uncle." Heussein 
left the Sultan's presence in great anger, and went to 
Midhad's palace to confer with him, calling in also 
Kaysereli Ahmed and other officers. While they were 
together, another officer, Cherkez Hassan by name, 
brother-in-law of the dead Sultan, came to the palace, 
informing the guard that he had a message from the 
Sultan to the pashas, who were in conference. The 
guard admitted him, and he went to the parlor. After 
the usual salutations the commander asked him, ^' Has- 
san, why did you come here ? '' Hassan replied, ^' I 
came to kill you, dog," and fired three shots at him 
from his revolver, stretching him dead on the floor. 
Then, before the others could assail him, he killed 
every one present, except Midhad, who escaped. Has- 
san was finally captured and hanged, but Murad was 
established on the throne. He was a good-natured and 
liberal-minded man ; he believed in constitutional gov- 
ernment, and organized a working system. There was 
to be a parliament, one-third Christians and two-thirds 
Mohammedans, elected by the people of the provinces 
or vilayets. Each vilayet furnished three members, 
two Mohammedans and one Christian, all indorsed 
by the clergymen. During the elections I was pastor 
of Adana in Armenia !^Iinor, and had to endorse our 
members. The Adana member was an Armenian 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 145 

named Krikor Bizdigian, the richest man of that city, 
perhaps in Turkey; if still living, he must be ninety. 
When the parliament was opened in Constantinople, 
Sultan Murad presided, and told the members to dis- 
cuss any questions freely. He said, " We are here for 
the good of the country, and the empire needs to be re- 
formed; how can we reform it ? " This was an entire 
novelty; " government by discussion " is not the Orien- 
tal way, and not the Oriental liking either. The Mo- 
hammedan members were astonished, and they were 
wrathful at the Christian members when the latter be- 
gan to make free and able speeches. They said, " Are 
we going to be governed by these heathen dogs, the 
Christian hogs ? We will have no parliament where 
every dog is free to open his mouth. We want the 
good old ways of Mohammed." They were like mad 
dogs, ready to bite. They hated the Christians, and 
they hated the Sultan. They went to his younger 
brother, the present Sultan, and told him his brother 
Murad was insane. " He makes Christian dogs equal 
to Mussulmen; he will ruin the country; you must 
become Sultan to save the Turkish Empire." This 
suited Abdul Aziz exactly; he headed a revolt, deposed 
his good brother, dissolved the parliament, imprisoned 
Murad in the palace where his uncle was assassinated, 
and since then has been carrying the country to de- 
struction. He is a perfect devil in all respects. A 
devil can take the guise of an angel, and the Sultan has 
the cunning to make himself appear a perfect gentle- 
man, a benevolent and humane person. The devil 
10 



146 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

can cheat most people, and so can the Sultan, all but 
the native Christians in Turkey, to whom he shows 
his horns, and hoofs, and tail. 

The nauseous praise of the Sultan from travelers 
and ministers reminds me of a Turkish brigand named 
Guro, who infested Asia Minor a quarter of a century 
ago. He robbed year after year all travelers who had 
anything worth taking; but when he met tramps he 
gave them money, and even a roasted lamb to eat now 
and then. The tramps all praised him; he was a 
benevolent, humane, kind-hearted man ; they had never 
seen anything cruel or dishonest about him. So the 
Sultan robs the Armenians, and uses their money to 
feast the American ministers and decorate their wives. 
Oh, but the Sultan sent money to the sufferers from 
famine in the Western States of America; so generous 
of him ! I am glad to say the money was refused. 
All Americans who praise the Sultan are like the 
tramps and the brigand. They are either ignorant 
or in effect bribed. And then there is the affectation 
of impartiality, so easy a cover for ignorance, coldness, 
and laziness. You must say some good things about 
a scoundrel, and some ill ones about a saint, or you 
will be considered a partisan. You must not tell even 
the truth, if the truth is all on one side. If the Sul- 
tan massacres all the Christians in Turkey, why, there 
are two sides to the question; perhaps the Christians 
were not agreeable people, and if so, you cannot won- 
der he has them exterminated by sword, and fire, and 
torture, and rape ; it is really the only way he could get 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 147 

rid of tliem. And then, he is king, and has a right to 
do what he pleases with his own ; nobody has any busi- 
ness to interfere. Of course a President could not 
order three millions of people put to death by letting 
loose all the savage Indians of the West on them to do 
as they pleased with them, for the sake of making them 
worship the Big Manitou ; but a Sultan — that is dif- 
ferent, even though a Kurd is exactly as bad as an 
Indian, and an Indian's knife does not cut throats any 
more effectively, nor an Indian's tortures inflict more 
unnamable horrors of suffering, nor an Indian's torch 
burn houses any better, nor an Indian's beastly lust 
defile women any worse. Are all the writers, then, 
who have praised him ignorant or silly ? Yes; the 
Sultan's deeds, proved by countless thousands of wit- 
nesses, set forth in the consular reports, show that they 
are. 

As soon as Abdul Hamid had seized the throne, he 
girded on the sword of Osman, which I will explain 
later is equivalent to coronation. The keys of the 
palace where Murad was imprisoned he keeps in his 
pocket. The nominal ground of his imprisonment is 
insanity, but he was not insane; it was his liberality 
of mind, his greatness of heart, and his mild and kind 
spirit. He was an exceptional Turk. Then Hamid 
called Midhad Pasha to him, gave him $25,000, and 
told him to leave the country and never come back. 
The country was thus left without a single man of 
any force of character and a large position combined. 
After the death of Aziz the two greatest Turks were 



148 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Sultan Miirad and Midhad Pasha, and had Murad not 
been hnprisoned, and Midhad banished, the Turkish 
Empire would be an entirely different country, and 
have a different future. 

Midhad was finally recalled, but only to be mur- 
dered. As the Sultan felt his position secure, he be- 
gan to get rid of all men of superior character and ed- 
ucation. Some he banished, some he imprisoned, 
some he killed. But Midhad, as the greatest, was the 
most obnoxious. He was of course not dispatched at 
once. He was invited back, made governor of 
Smyrna, given the highest emoluments, paid the 
greatest honors; then one night he was suddenly sum- 
moned to Constantinople by the Sultan. He knew it 
was the death-call, and fled to the French consulate 
for shelter, but the consul was afraid to protect him. 
Finally he was taken by force to Constantinople, tried 
before a tribunal of course packed by the Sultan, and 
condemned to death. But the kind-hearted Sultan 
commuted the death sentence to banishment and hard 
labor for life, and quietly ordered the officers who 
were going to take him to banishment to kill him in- 
stead, which they did. 

After he had got rid of all the great Turks, he ap- 
pointed a host of ignorant and cruel ruffians as gov- 
ernors, sub-governors, and generals; like Hadjii Has- 
san Pasha, governor of Beshick-Tash near the Sultan's 
palace, and whose business is to watch over the Sultan, 
and who cannot read or write. He prefers ignorance, 
because it means fanaticism, and he thinks cannot 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 149 

plot against him. He dreads and liates education 
and the educated, though he makes a show of en- 
couraging them. He taxed the people for public 
schools and put up magnificent buildings, but there 
are few if any scholars in them; they were not built 
for educational purposes, but for a show, and if neces- 
sary, for barracks in the future. All the same, he 
has his agents in Europe and America chant his 
praises as a lover of learning. Parents will not send 
their children to them anyway, for there are not com- 
petent teachers in them; there are a very few ignorant 
Mohammedan teachers, but even they are so corrupt 
morally that no one dares trust his boy or girl with 
them. The Sultan professed that people of all nation- 
alities and religions would have equal privileges in 
his public schools, therefore he ordered all to contribute 
money for them. He raised the farmers' tax from one- 
tenth to one-eighth of the crops on pretense of support- 
ing the public schools. Of course he got most of it 
from the Armenians, but there is not an Armenian 
teacher or child in them. 

Abdul Hamid is a stupendous hypocrite and char- 
latan; he makes a great pretense of wisdom, religion, 
and morality, and he has not a spark of either one. 
His wisdom is only the animal cunning of a jealous, 
cruel, suspicious brute, his morals simply do not exist, 
and his religion is pure sham. It is often reported that 
he is very religious. All that it amounts to is that 
.every Friday (the Mohammedan Sunday) he goes to 
the mosque to worship (a ceremony called selamlik). 



150 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

with several tliousand soldiers lining the roads from 
the palace to the mosque to prevent his assassination, 
of which he is in hourly fear; that once a year he goes 
to the old Seraglio and pays tribute to the mantle of 
Mohammed and other relics, kissing the slipper, coat, 
and beard of the prophet; and he worships in the 
mosque of St. Sophia as a conqueror. All this is 
merely for show, to please the fanatic Mohammedans. 
He advertises himself as a temperance man, too, but he 
drinks to excess privately. In a word, he is thoroughly 
false from top to bottom, pretending all good, and 
doing all evil. 

His officers of course imitate him; most of them 
are absolute infidels, believing in nothing, but pro- 
fessing great devotion. I knew a governor of this 
stamp. He used to worship at the mosque, and even 
ordered a hair of Mohammed's whiskers to be brought 
from Constantinople to please the Mohammedan pop- 
ulation. He never drank a drop of liquor in public, 
but privately drank all he could hold. He had plenty 
of fellows. For instance, Khalil Rifat Pasha, the 
present Grand Yezir, appointed a few months ago, 
has been governor of several different provinces, and 
notorious in all as a great hypocrite and a thoroughly 
corrupt man, full of lust and profligacy. When a 
European or a native Christian of high position called 
on him, he would treat the visitor with great polite- 
ness, promise anything he asked, say, " take my word 
of honor," and assure him of his entire sincerity; as 
soon as he was gone, Khalil would curse him, and call 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 151 

him a heathen dog, say to another Mohammedan, '^ See 
how that Christian hog beheved what I said ! " and 
keep not a word of his promises. 

The Sultan is just the same. He is outwardly 
very pleasant, very gentlemanly, very humane. He 
will promise almost anything, but he will do nothing, 
and he calls his enraptured guests dogs and hogs behind 
their backs. Who knows how many times he has 
called Lord Salisbury, the German Emperor, or the 
Russian Czar, who are helping him to kill the Ar- 
menians, heathen dogs ? See the promises of the 
Sultan in 1878, in the Berlin Treaty, Article 61: — 
" The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out without 
further delay the improvements and reforms de- 
manded by local requirements in the provinces in- 
habited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their 
security against Circassians and Kurds. It will 
periodically make known the steps taken to this ef- 
fect to the powers, who will superintend their applica- 
tion. '' These promises were made eighteen years 
ago, and the reforms were to be made " without further 
delay." His reforms have consisted in ordering Circas- 
sians and Kurds to murder and plunder them. Since 
the Berlin Treaty, the Sultan, calling the European 
kings, emperors, and princes heathen hogs and Chris- 
tian dogs, directly and indirectly has killed 200,000 
Armenians. That was his reform. 

When he seized the throne, Turkey had 40,000,000 
people, and the Sultan thought his power was irresis- 
tible. He let loose a horde of Circassians to massacre 



152 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the Bulgarians, just as lie has let loose the Kurds to 
massacre the Armenians. But the Bulgarians are 
Slavs, and belong to the Greek Church, and the Rus- 
sian Czar, Alexander, grandfather of the present Czar, 
interfered in their favor. This excited the fears of 
the other powers, and a Congress was held in Con- 
stantinople to settle the question. Lord Salisbury 
came from England, Count Ignatieff from Kussia, and 
others from other parts of Europe, gathered in a beauti- 
ful palace (now the admiralty) on the shores of the 
Golden Horn of sweet waters, discussed the question, 
and decided that the Bulgarian atrocities must stop, 
Bulgaria be reformed and allowed to govern itself in- 
ternally, and that Turkey must not fight Russia be- 
cause it was too weak. This decision was communi- 
cated to the Sultan, and he was furious: he would not 
grant freedom or a government to Bulgaria, and he 
was quite able to fight Russia. Finally he refused 
flatly to accept the decision, and called a Turkish Con- 
gress to give their " opinion. " Of course they gave what 
was wanted, and pronounced in favor of a war with 
Russia. A few were bold enough to disfavor it, and 
the Sultan punished them. One of these was Hagop 
Efendi Madteosian, the representative of the Protes- 
tant Armenian community. Another was a thought- 
ful, experienced Turk, and when the Sultan asked him 
his reason for opposing the war, he related the follow- 
ing parable : 

" There w^as once a miser whom the king gave his 
choice of three things : to eat ^ve pounds of raw onions 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 153 

without bread at one meal, to receive five hundred 
lashes on the bare back, or to pay $5,000. The miser 
could not bear to lose so much money; he could not 
endure such a flogging ; and he chose to eat the onions. 
After eating a pound or so their bitterness and rank- 
ness nauseated him, and he concluded to take the 
whipping. He stood about a hundred lashes, and saw 
that he should die under it; and decided to pay the 
$5,000 after all." " i^ow," said the wise Turk, " this 
illustrates what I mean. If you go to war with Russia, 
you will sacrifice many thousands of soldiers, which is 
a very bitter thing to digest ; then you will lose Euro- 
pean Turkey, and finally you will have to pay millions 
of dollars indemnity and ruin the country. I cannot 
approve the war." The Sultan cried out in rage, 
" Begone, you old crank! I will not listen to any more 
foolish words from you. I shall conquer the Czar, 
enlarge the country, and strengthen my kingdom." 
He did go to war in 1876, was whipped by the Czar, 
and lost almost the whole of European Turkey and 
other parts of the empire, with" 22,000,000 people: 
Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, 
part of Macedonia, part of Armenia, Cyprus, and after- 
wards Egypt. He lost many thousands of soldiers 
and millions of dollars, and besides has had to pay mil- 
lions of dollars indemnity to Russia. And the Sultan 
is called an " able man " and " wise ruler " ! These 
things look like it. 

After the war and the loss of the provinces, he en- 
couraged the Mohammedan population of European 



154 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Turkey to emigrate to Asiatic Turkey, that ihey 
might not live under Christians, and that they might 
increase the number of Mohammedans in the Asiatic 
part. The slaughter of the Armenians and the con- 
fiscation of their property forms part of the scheme 
to make room for them. Before his time the Arme- 
nians in Armenia outnumbered the Turks; but the 
massacres, the occupation of the farms and houses by 
the savages let loose on them, and the emigration of 
many more Armenians to Persia and Russia, have 
greatly diminished their numbers. Of course they 
are not permitted to emigrate, they simply fly. About 
200,000 have actually perished. As to the forced 
conversions, the Sultan does not care a particle for 
Islamism, but wants to please the Moslem and finds 
this an agreeable way to do it. As to the converts 
from Islamism to Christianity, they are ordered to go 
to Constantinople and are killed there. Hundreds 
and thousands of the Mohammedan Turks are Chris- 
tians in secret, but do not dare to confess it. These are 
the ones who helped and protected the Armenians 
during the recent atrocities. Some six years ago a 
number of such professed the Christian religion pub- 
licly; they were at once ordered to go to Constantinople 
and every one of them was murdered by order of the 
Sultan. When the representatives of the Christian 
powers asked about them the Sultan denied that they 
had come there at all. This was the method of their 
assassination : The Sultan has several pleasure boats, 
and in one of these boats he fitted up an air-tight room 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 155 

with an air-pump; each night one of the converts was 
taken from prison and put into this room, the air 
was pumped out, and he was suffocated; then an iron 
chain was hooked round him, and he was thrown into 
the Bosphorus. One by one all of them were so mur- 
dered. How did the author of this book discover the 
secret ? Well, when in Constantinople, I had an in- 
timate friend among the engineers; the engineer of 
this death boat told my friend about it, and he told me. 
And the Sultan is not simply a murderer by proxy 
and official order; he is a murderer himself personally. 
When in Constantinople, I learned from several au- 
thoritative sources that he killed with his own revolver 
several of his servants, for no cause whatever, but 
merely from suspicion or rage. He always keeps a 
revolver in his pocket, and whomever in the palace he 
suspects, he shoots. He is a great coward. I heard 
there that he has more than 10,000 detectives, at a 
cost of several hundred thousand dollars a year. He 
lives in Yildiz Palace, about two miles from the Bos- 
phorus, on a hill on the European shore; he has built 
new barracks, and keeps a large army around the 
palace to protect him from assassination. His " wis- 
dom " is merely care for his skin. He cares nothing 
for the prosperity of the country ; it is steadily growing 
poorer, while he is personally growing very rich. 
That is one reason why he keeps an Armenian treas- 
urer, that the Turks may not know his secrets. Even 
the Turks are disgusted with him. I often used to 
hear the Turks say, " God deliver us from the Sultan 



156 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

and send another master, even if he is the Czar of 
Russia." His immense family costs him from $10,- 
000,000 to $15,000,000 a year; it is the largest in the 
world. I was told that it consists of 5,000 persons, 
counting the eunuchs, the servants, and all. He has 
about 500 wives; he did not marry them all; he in- 
herited most of them. When a Sultan dies, his suc- 
cessor has everything that belonged to him, including 
his wives. And besides, he has to marry a new wife 
every year, by the Mohammedan and governmental 
law; he has no choice in the matter. That makes 
twenty wives in the twenty years of Abdul Hamid's 
reign. This is the system: He has at present nearly 
one hundred young girls in the harem, supposed to be 
the most beautiful in the world; they are presented to 
him by the governor-generals, who get them from the 
local governors, who get their offices by sending their I 

superiors the finest looking girls, or the best Arabian 
horses, and the governor-generals get theirs by pass- 
ing the gifts on to the Sultan. That is the way to get 
office in Turkey. You may be a murderer, a thief, 
or an ignoramus, but you can be sure of an office 
if you can furnish a handsome girl, or a fine stallion, 
or a few thousand dollars. When I was pastor in 
Marsovan, the local governor, Sudduc Bey, bought a 
very pretty girl, and sent her to the governor-general 
of Beshick-Tash in Constantinople, Hadji Hassan 
Pash, the Sultan's special guard; he had got his office 
from that functionary. As to how the girls are got, 
it depends; if they are Mohammedan, they are bought; 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 157 

if they are Christian they are seized by force, for the 
Christians will not sell their daughters. Several 
months ago Bahri Pasha, the governor-general of Van, 
carried off several Armenian girls and presented them 
to the Sultan, who decorated him for the service, and 
appointed him Yali or governor-general of Adana, in 
Armenia Minor. These girls are kept in the harem 
of the Sultan. When the time comes to marry 
another wife, he has the girls stand in a row, and 
chooses one of them by covering her face with a silk 
handkerchief; then she is taken by the eunuchs to 
the quarters allotted to the Sultanas, and can have 
separate servants, carriages, and eunuchs. The life 
of the Sultan and his big family is the most miserable 
in the world. The palace is a focus of discontent, 
quarrels, jealousy, lust, and cruelty; in a word, it is a 
perfect hell. The women have nothing to do, and 
nothing to think of; they do not read, they have no 
work, and no share even in household management; 
they are idle, and unspeakably bored, and they do what 
most idle people of both sexes do all over the world — 
excite their nerves with sensual cravings, and then 
try to satisfy them. They often manage to bring boys 
to their quarters by stealth, and keep them there for 
weeks for purposes of lust, and the Sultan knows 
nothing about it; often they bribe their eunuchs, and 
go to other places to satisfy their desires, and the Sul- 
tan never hears of it. Aziz lost his life through an 
intrigue of one of his wives. With so large and 
exacting a family, it is no wonder the Sultan has no 



158 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

time or energy left for improving his administration. 
He only finds a little time to send telegrams to the 
governors to exterminate the Armenians. 

THE SULTANATE AND ITS POWERS. 
There is no coronation in Turkey; instead the 
Sultans gird on the sword of Osman, the founder of the 
Ottoman Dynasty, which is kept in the mosque of 
Ayoob, in Constantinople. When a Sultan is pro- 
claimed, he goes to that mosque with great pomp, and 
all the members of the Sublime Porte, the civil of- 
ficers, the generals, commanders, soldiers, patriarchs 
of different religions, and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the 
Mohammedan religious head, follow him. But no 
Christians enter that holy place, as it is forbidden 
them. After impressive service, the chief of the der- 
vishes of the order of Mevlair girds the Sultan with 
the sword; then he is officially recognized as emperor. 
Then, as God's will be done. Sultan's will be done, 
because the Sultan represents God in heaven, Moham- 
med in Paradise, Osman on the earth. He has three 
offices, God's office, Mohammed's office, Osman's of- 
fice. He is as infallible as the Pope of Rome, and 
temporally everything belongs to him without excep- 
tion, men, women, children, money, property, just as 
everything belongs to God. A Turkish proverb says, 
" Mai, jan, erz, Padishahin dir " (Property, soul, 
and virtue belong to the Sultan). He can claim any 
man's wife for his enjoyment at any time; his son, or 
his daughter, or his money, or his property of any 
sort; there is no use refusing — a man does not own 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 159 

iiimself, or his wife, or his children; the Sultan owns 
them all, and it is only by his grace that he permits 
his subjects to have anything, and he can resume it at 
any time, for half an hour, or forever. Besides, any- 
body's head would come off that refused. If the Sul- 
tan asks a millionaire in Constantinople to send him 
half his wealth, the millionaire must not refuse; he 
himself is simply a steward; if the Sultan wants it all 
it must go to him, and the millionaire must beg bread 
for a living. At the same time he must praise the 
Sultan, because the Sultan is God on earth. If he 
refuses to send his wife or daughter to the Sultan's 
bed, or his son or money for whatever uses they are 
wanted to supply, the Sultan has a right to kill him, 
and take all his possessions by force, because the man 
was not a faithful slave. 

" But I cannot believe this," says the American in 
his free, peaceful country. " It is not natural. How 
can a man be considered as God, owning everything, 
not in a spiritual sense, but in a very material, pecun- 
iary, and male sense ? " 

Go to Turkey, get naturalized there, become a 
Turkish subject, and you will understand it fully, and 
perhaps shockingly. Of course, if you go as an Amer- 
ican citizen, with plenty of money, travel under the 
escort of soldiers, or Zapties, get presented by the 
American minister to the Sultan, are entertained in 
the palace, and receive handsome presents, you will 
not understand it at all ; very likely not believe it ; you 
may come home and praise the Sultan like the rest. 



160 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Tlie natural question is, I know, " Do the Sultans, 
any of them, carry this theory into practice ? Has 
the present Sultan ? " Yes; and not once or twice, 
but thousands of times. To be sure, they do not go in 
person on such errands; they depute their officers and 
soldiers to do what they wish. I have shown how the 
history of the Armenians illustrates it, in the 
seizure of their property, the forced conversion 
of their boys into troops to fight against their parents, 
the appropriation of their wives and daughters, to be 
given to the Sultan. As to the present Sultan, I have 
already spoken of Bahri Pasha's exploit in carrying off 
by force several Armenian young brides, and girls, 
and presenting them to the Sultan, and his being dec- 
orated and promoted for it. While on his way, he 
had to pass through Trebizond, and the Armenians 
fired on him to rescue the women, but failed. They 
forgot that all women belong to the Sultan, and they 
made a mistake in firing on one of his officers. He 
at once ordered all the Armenians in Trebizond to be 
slaughtered. Some of the richest of the nation lived 
there; every penny was taken from them, most of 
them were killed, and their wives and children, 
and those of them who survived are begging bread. 
And all through Armenia the girls and young brides 
are being looked over to pick out the best looking ones 
for the Sultan's harem. 

Once for all, Armenia is not America. The 
Turks, the Kurds, the Circassians, the Georgians, 
though they may be like Americans, are like 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 161 

American Indians only. The Sultan is not a 
president, and his divine right to kill any man, appro- 
priate any property, or enjoy any woman, is not like 
the Constitution of the United States. People who 
think that the Sultan would not do or be allowed to do 
such things because no ruler they are familiar with 
does them, that it is impossible they can happen in Ar- 
menia because they could not happen in America, that 
the Armenians must have provoked them in some way, 
because it is hard to believe any ruler could do so in 
pure wantonness or from deliberate policy, are reason- 
ing from wrong premises. They did happen, and are 
happening, — see the consular reports ; were perfectly 
unprovoked, — see the plentiful proofs that the Ar- 
menians carry no arms, and cannot even defend them- 
selves from murder, or their wives from dishonor 
before their eyes. Why it is done, and how much 
more is to be done, I have explained repeatedly. 

THE SUBLIME PORTE AND THE MOHAMMEDAN 
RELIGION. 

The Sublime Porte, or in Turkish Babi-Ali, is the 
cabinet of the Turkish government, as follows: — 

1. The Grand Yezir, or Prime Minister. 

2. The Minister of the Interior. 

3. The Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

4. The Superintendent of the Cabinet Council. 

5. The Commander-in-chief, or Minister of War. 

6. The Minister of the ^N'avy. 

7. The Minister of Finance. 

11 



162 ARI^IENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

8. The Minister of Commerce and Public Buildings. 

9. The Minister of Sacred Properties. 

10. The Minister of Education. 

11. The Sheik-ul-Islam, or religious head. 

There is no election in Turkey; all officers are 
appointed by the Sultan, who can dismiss any of them 
at any time, and appoint some one else, and I have 
already explained why he almost always appoints bad 
ones. The Sublime Porte has no power to decide any- 
thing; it is simply a farce council to cheat the Euro- 
pean powers; a dumb tool in the hands of the Sultan. 
Por instance, the Sultan calls the Grand Yezir, the 
president of the Sublime Porte, into his presence, and 
tells him such a question is to be discussed in such a 
way, and this or that conclusion reached. ^^ Very 
well, my Lord and Master," says the Grand Vezir; 
he goes to the Sublime Porte palace, and says to the 
council: " To-day I was permitted to come into the 
presence of His Majesty the Sultan, and he instructed 
me that I must bring such a question before you, 
and after we discuss it in such a manner, we must 
come to such a decision.'' Then all of them stand up 
and say, " Sultan's will be done," and that is all; 
their " decision " is announced to the Sultan, and he 
" sanctions " it. There is no discussion for days or 
weeks, as in England or here ; it is all cut short. The 
Sublime Porte can decide any question in a few min- 
utes. This is the sort of thing Mr. Carlyle wanted. 
You have seen the beautiful effects of it. 

The question naturally arises, Why does the Sul- 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 163 

tan keep a Sublime Porte, since he decides everything 
himself ? 

There are three reasons. 

First, it is the old custom. All the other Sultans 
have had one, and he might offend the Turks if he 
abolished it. 

Second, as the Sultan can do no wrong, there must 
be somebody else to lay blame on. He is the repre- 
sentative of God and Prophet, Mohammed. If there 
is any mistake in any decision, he is not responsible 
for it; the Sublime Porte is responsible. 

Third, because he has relations with the European 
powers, and if any decision needs to be reversed, it 
can be if it is that of the Sublime Porte; but if it 
were the personal decision of the Sultan it could not 
be changed, because he is considered immutable, just 
as God is. 

When people read about the Sublime Porte after 
this, I hope they will understand that there is not 
really any Su.b]im,e Porte; that it is a mere name, an 
echo, a farce, a show to bunco the world with. 

Some newspaper and other writers think it is 
" impartial " to say that the Sultan means well, but he 
has a " corrupt ministry " ; that it is the Sublime Porte 
that ruins the Turkish Empire; if it were left to the 
Sultan, he would reform the country ; he would not let 
ihe Armenians be massacred. Put no faith in such 
ignorant rubbish. The Sultan dictates everything; 
and if any minister has the sense and courage to sug- 
gest any improvement, the Sultan dismisses him, say- 



164 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ing that it is his own business to consider the improve- 
ments of the country and not that of any one else. The 
governors would not dare to order the Kurds and the 
Turks to wreak their worst and vilest will on the Ar- 
menians without direct orders from the Sultan. The 
Sultan originates all these cruelties. The recent 
Grand Yezir, Said Pasha, at one time was a very 
decent Turk. When he differed with the Sultan 
about massacreing the .Araienians, the Sultan threat- 
ened to kill him, and he had to fly to the English 
embassy for protection. Murad Bey was another 
good Turk who remonstrated against the cruelties ; his 
life was threatened, and he fled to Europe; now he is 
in Egypt, denouncing the Sultan in the press and in 
letters. The Sultan sentenced him to death, and 
asked the British government to hand him over to 
the Turkish oflicers; but the representative of the Brit- 
ish government in Cairo refused. Just before the 
Armenian atrocities in Constantinople, the members 
of the Sublime Porte tried to have the Armenian 
grievances redressed, and the people pacified ; the Sul- 
tan would have no such pottering, and ordered the sol- 
diers to kill the Armenians in the streets. But this 
was a rare piece of virtue in the Porte. Mostly they 
are as bad as the Sultan himself, for he appoints men 
of his own stripe. Good men would not be useful 
tools. The Sultan has another trick of management; 
before making any one a member of the Porte, he 
tries to find out whether he is a friend to any of the 
ministers already in; if so, he will not appoint him. 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 165 

On the other hand, if the man happens to be an 
enemy to one of the members, he is ahiiost sure of 
appointment. The Sublime Porte, therefore, is a 
group of mutual enemies, hating one another, and 
ready to betray one another at any time. He thinks 
if they are friendly, they may unite and depose him 
some day. Besides this, there are more detectives in 
the Sublime Porte, watching the ministers on behalf 
of the Sultan, than there are members. They keep 
the Sultan informed about the situation. If any min- 
ister or officer acts contrary to the wishes of the Sul- 
tan, he is marked for death. 

THE SHEIK-UL-ISLAM. 

Sheik-ul-Islam means chief of Islam — the Mo- 
hammedan religion. His office is solely religious; 
he has nothing to do with politics. He sees that the 
mosques and priests are kept in order, and the reli- 
gious services properly conducted ; and there are many 
questions among the Mohammedans which are set- 
tled without going to a magistrate, by the Sheik-ul- 
Islam, or by his deputies, called Muf tees. These Muf- 
tees can be found in every city in Turkey. The Sheik- 
ul-Islam and his representatives issue Fetvas (religious 
decrees) according to the Koran. 

There is no inconsistency between this and what I 
have said before about the Sultan being the repre- 
sentative of Mohammed, and therefore the chief of 
his religion. Both the Sultan and the Sheik-ul-Islam 
are the heads of it, just as the Greek emperor and the 
Patriarch were of the Greek church, and the relative 



166 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

position is about the same. The Sheik-ul-Islam is 
the special head of the ecclesiastical organization. 
The Sultan appoints him, but once appointed, if he is 
insubordinate and opposes the Sultan, the latter can- 
not suppress or replace him without grave scandal to 
the Mohammedan world. It is like Henry II and 
Becket; it is easier to make a head of a church than 
to rule him afterwards. It is like the Emperors and 
the Popes in the Middle Ages; and as with them, some- 
times the Sheik-ul-Islam joins with political officers to 
depose the Sultan, and his fetva, or decree, makes it 
legal. When Abdul Aziz was deposed, the then 
Sheik-ul-Islam, Khairollah Effendi, issued the fetva 
for it, reluctantly, for Heussein Avni Pasha forced 
him to do it under threat of death. As Heussein's 
own head was in immediate peril, he had no scruples 
about the Sheik-ul-Islam's. Every fetva has two 
questions and one answer. A case is set forth; after 
a brief discussion the question Olourni (To be ?) and 
Olmazmi (Not to be ?) are asked, and the answer 
is given as either Olour or Olmaz (To be, or ^tvTot to 
be). The fetva which Heussein forced the Sheik-ul- 
Islam to sign was something like this: — " If a Sultan 
should prove to be unworthy to govern his people, is 
it necessary to uphold him or not ? '' The answer 
was Olmaz, and Abdul Aziz was deposed. 

MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE INTERNAL STATE OF 

TURKEY. 

ITobody who has not lived in Turkey can realize 
how hopeless, almost self -contradictory, it is to talk 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 167 

of " reforming " Turkey. It could not be reformed 
and be Mohammedan Turkey; the lack of reform or 
power of reform is just what makes it what it is. The 
root of the evil is Mohammedanism itself; it is em- 
bodied social stagnation, corruption, ultimate ruin. 
Neither the Sultan nor the Turks can improve the 
state of the Empire, even if they wished. The usual 
" broad-minded " statements about Mohammed and 
his religion are simply elaborations of ignorance, made 
up out of men's own minds, and what they think must 
be true. It is customary for waiters to talk in 
this fashion : — " Mohammedanism is a half-way 
house to Christianity; Mohammed converted the hea- 
then Arabs to a belief in the true God. Mohammed 
established a great religion and a great Empire," etc., 
etc. There is no truth in this, for all its plausible 
sound. Mohammedanism is not even on the road 
to Christianity; and Arabia, Asia Minor, and Pales- 
tine were all much better off before the Mohammedan 
conquest than after it. Buddhism and Brahmanism 
are better religions than Mohammedanism. The 
Chinese, the Japanese, the people of India are much 
better than the Turks. The Chinese Emperor and 
the Japanese Mikado are far better men than the Mo- 
hammedan Sultan. The heathen religions rear bet- 
ter men than Mohammedanism. The Mongols are 
more humane and sympathetic than the Turks. Hea- 
thenism at its worst, though a low form of religion, is 
really a form of religion; but Mohammedanism is 
not a religion at all. Then what is it ? It is a system 



168 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

of imposture and false pretense, and of lives of human 
lust and cruelty. Mohammed practiced all these, 
and his successors have done the same, and taught the 
same ever since; and the system means just that now, 
and nothing else. There is neither love nor sympa- 
thy, manliness nor humanity in Mohammedanism. 
Can a system lacking all these be considered a religion? 
This is the substance of Mohammed's teachings: — 
^' Love your fellow believers, hate and slay all who 
refuse to accept your religion. Marry as many wives 
as you can afford; if you can afford but one do not 
repine, for you shall have seven thousand to enjoy 
in Paradise. If you conquer a country, show no 
mercy to the people unless they embrace Islam; if 
they refuse, either kill them or make slaves of them." 
What sort of reforms can you expect in Armenia, or in 
Turkey, when the very religion that is to make people 
better, inculcates such principles ? If one does not 
know a language he cannot speak it; if he has not a 
principle he will not practice it; how can the Sultan, 
a vicious man to begin with, trained in a religion cal- 
culated to make a cruel and licentious animal even out 
of a decent man, reform anything ? His very religion 
forbids it; he cares nothing for the religion when it 
stands in his way, but he will follow its injunctions to 
please the Mohammedans, especially when they grat- 
ify and justify his worst passions. 

I shall be asked if the Mohammedans do not be- 
lieve in one God, and the same God as the Christian; 
and if that does not make it a religion, and very near 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 169 

that of Christians. Yes, they do; and so do the devils. 
That is what Mohammedanism is, the rehgion of 
devils. Most of the Turkish conversation consists of 
oaths and smut. I do not mean among the common 
people — theirs is nothing else — but of the educated 
upper classes, their scholars, teachers, governors, and 
priests. I came in contact with them for years, and 
I hated to listen to them, their talk was so full of curs- 
ing and filth. You never see the fruits of the spirit 
in them; only the fruits of the flesh. They do not 
understand what spiritual life is ; with them all is sense, 
— eating and drinking, finery and lust, — lust above 
all, everywhere and always, like cattle. They seem 
never able to forget sex and its uses. Some people 
think the climate makes the Turks lazy; it is 
enough on that point to say that Constantinople is 
almost exactly in the same latitude as 'New York, and 
Smyrna as St. Louis. The Turkish climate is a tem- 
perate and salubrious one, with no greater extremes of 
temperature than the United States; not tropical or 
enervating. Nor is it their race that makes the Turks 
lazy; they were not so at the outset. It is their reli- 
gion and the habits it breeds. Their minds and 
bodies are enervated by the unwholesome nervous 
excitation of lust, their energies further sapped by a 
falsehood that leaves no room for aspiration, their 
vanity as a military caste in not working takes all the 
spirit of manly enterprise out of them. If the cli- 
mate enervates the Turks, why does it not the Chris- 
tians ? In the very same cities you find the Chris- 



170 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

tians rich, enterprising, full of energy ; tlie Turks poor, 
ignorant, unambitious, and lazy. The religion makes 
all the difference. Christianity teaches purity, sym- 
pathy, and industry; Mohammedanism teaches im- 
purity, hate, and sloth. The pure life of the Chris- 
tian conserves all the energies; the hopes of Christian- 
ity give vigor and endurance. The promise of each 
for the future gives the clue to the history of each; 
the Christian heaven of unity with God, the Moham- 
medan heaven of a lot of street dogs and sluts. 

Here I must comment on the extraordinary state- 
ment of Alexander Webb, at the Parliament of Re- 
ligions in Chicago. Mr. Webb was an American 
consul in the East, and became a convert to Moham- 
medanism, or professes to have done so; it is not very 
hard to guess what part of that so-called religion at- 
tracted him. He said the religion of Mohammed 
teaches the Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood 
of Humanity. IN^ow, as a fact, Mohammedans believe 
in neither one. As to God, they believe he is a mon- 
arch, and that no one can approach him ; they have the 
same idea the Jews had. " Our Father who art in 
Heaven " is a purely Christian aspiration, not that 
of any other religion on earth ; it is Christianity alone 
that teaches the Fatherhood of God. And Moham- 
medans directly ridicule the idea of God the Father, or 
of a Son of God. They say God is not married, and 
cannot be a father; and that when they go to heaven 
they will not be in his presence, nor wish to be, but will 
have a separate heaven, to enjoy their wives in. They 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 171 

look at everything from a sexual or sensual stand- 
point. As to brotherhood, there is no such thing in 
Mohammedanism; even sons of the same mother are 
not brothers in feeling. A Mohammedan has not con- 
fidence enough, even in his brother, to show his wives to 
him, and even in heaven they will have to live in dif- 
ferent places on account of their wives. How can 
there be brotherhood without love or purity ? And 
we have seen and know what the '^ brotherhood " of 
Mohammedans to other nations and religions is; there 
can be no relations whatever but of master and slave, 
or murderer and corpse, or violator and victim. The 
impudence of this talk of brotherhood is fathomless. 

And then he said he was proud to be a convert to 
Islam, because that meant believing in purity ! This 
is more outrageously impudent still. His ideal of 
purity must be a curious one if he finds more in Mo- 
hammedanism than in Christianity; in a religion with 
a heaven stuffed with concubines "than in one where 
even earth is sprinkled with nuns; in one that makes 
Titanic lust its crowning reward, as if men were so 
feeble in sexual desires that they needed to be stim- 
ulated, than in one which makes chastity its key-note, 
and pronounces the very coveting of more than one 
"vvife a spiritual adultery; in one that prescribes poly- 
gamy (that is, keeping erotic turbulence stirred up 
much oftener and longer than it naturally would be), 
than in one that allows but one wife, and smiles on 
getting along without that ; in one whose devotees are 
ashamed of foul language, and even of foul thoughts, 



172 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

than in one whose devotees are rank and rotten with 
lustful ideas and talk to correspond. 

The whole Mohammedan system is designed to 
make the gratification of lust as easy and plentiful 
as possible short of a promiscuity that would lead 
to civil anarchy. A Mohammedan can divorce his 
wife any time he pleases by paying back her dower, 
and marry another and do likewise; every week, or 
(lay if he sees fit, and he can remarry and redivorce 
the first one as often as he pleases. It is like trading 
horses; as little sentiment or morality in one as the 
other ; the slightest possible regulation of sheer animal 
desire. There is, however, one form or divorce which 
is complete, and does not allow of remarriage until 
another marriage has intervened; that is called the 
achden docuza (three to nine) divorce, from the terms 
the husband uses in doing it, "I divorce you three to 
nine.'^ l^obody knows what it means or meant. 
After this, if he wants his wife back, he must get 
somebody else to marry and divorce her regularly; 
and as this is perilous, because the second husband after 
marrying her may take a notion to keep her, or any- 
way keep her much longer than the first one relishes, 
or demand a large sum of money, the usual plan is 
to fix on a very poor man, or a blind beggar (preferably 
blind, so that he cannot see the wife, and be so 
charmed by her beauties that he will wish to keep her), 
get him to become the woman's husband for a few 
days, and then pay him something to divorce her. 
Then the first can marry her again if he chooses. 



RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 173 

There are many more specimens of Mohamme- 
dan ^^ purity " too shameful to write, and too shame- 
ful to read; I cannot soil the paper with them. Doubt- 
less they are part of Mr. Webb's pride in being a Mo- 
hammedan. But I must mention one more engine of 
corruption which lies at the very root of Mohamme- 
danism itself: the pilgrimage to Mecca, to the birth- 
place of Mohammed in Arabia. Once a year Mo- 
hammedan pilgrims from every quarter of the world 
go to Mecca to pay homage to their beloved prophet; 
averaging a million a year. It is their duty to sac- 
rifice animals there, and about a million are so sac- 
rificed. This is done on the hills which surround the 
great temple, the greatest mosque in the world. It 
is a square building, which covers several acres of 
land. Just in the cluster is the Holy Well, called 
Zemzem. Mohammedans believe that if they drink 
of that water, hell-fire cannot burn them, and every 
pilgrim does so; then they begin to die from cholera 
to the tune of fifty thousand a year or so, for the well 
is a mere cesspool. You see, after cutting the throats 
of the animals, they leave the filth and blood just as 
they are, for the Mohammedan religion does not allow 
the sacrifice to be touched. The sandy soil absorbs 
this putrid filth, which leaches into the well. But it 
is a great merit to die on the spot where Mohammed 
was born ; one goes straight to heaven if he does. That 
is not the worst, however; they fill bottles with that 
water, and carry it to their families, and friends 
throughout the Turkish Empire, Persia, and India, 
from which cholera is spread abroad over the world. 



174 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

The pilgrims do not take their wives as far as the 
birthplace of Mohammed, but leave them half-way, 
and on reaching Mecca they marry temporarily. 
About 20,000 prostitutes there make a business of 
being short-term wives of the pilgrims, getting $5 
to $25 from each, and being his wife for anywhere 
from a day to a fortnight, so that each woman marries 
from fifty to a hundred pilgrims a year. This is not 
prostitution; it is religion — and Mohammedan 
" purity." Mecca is considered the most holy spot 
on earth by Mohammedans; but it is the most corrupt 
spot. It is a hell. And the Mohammedan Paradise 
is worse than Mecca. 

In one word, Mohammedans have no right to exist, 
politically, socially, or religiously. In the first they 
have wrought nothing but ruin; in the second nothing 
but corruption; in the third nothing but devilishness. 
They are working nothing else now in either of the 
three. They have never built up anything; they are 
pure destroyers. Anything which is built in any Mo- 
hammedan country is built both by Christian money 
and by Christian architects; Mohammedans have nei- 
ther the money, the architects, nor the sense. The 
day one becomes a Mohammedan he loses his intellect, 
his skill, and his common sense. Mohammedanism is a 
poison fatal to any good gifts or graces ; it cultivates in 
liim falsehood, cruelty, and lust. It was sent by God 
for a curse to the Christians; as a punishment, just as 
the Philistines were sent to the people of Israel. 



V. 

THE GKEAT POWERS A:N^D THE ARME- 
OTA^ QUESTIO^L 

There was no Armenian question till the time 
of the present Sultan; under xlbdul Aziz, whatever 
his faults as a ruler or a man, the Armenians prospered 
well, and though the whole system of administration 
is bad, corrupt, and uncertain, they had no special 
grievance as a race to complain of. I have already 
referred to Abdul Hamid's usurpation, his Bulgarian 
atrocities, his famous war against Russia, and the 
Congress in Berlin in which the powers ordered him 
to execute reforms in Armenia, and report to them, 
and the Sultan signed the treaty promising to do it. 
This was in 18 78. The Sultan lost no time in violat- 
ing the treaty, and not only so, but in acting grossly 
contrary to it. He called in Circassians and Kurds to 
settle in the midst of Armenians, and confiscated Ar- 
menian lands for them to settle on. The Armenians 
were far worse off than before the treaty ; but foolishly 
depending on the powers, they did not try to arm 
themselves for the future. They have had plenty of 
chance to repent in blood and tears, agony and shame, 
their faith that Christian nations would not ignore a 

solemn obligation, voluntarily entered into, to save 

(175) 



176 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

a whole people from being exterminated by fire and 
Bword. England was the worst of these sinners, for 
she had taken on special obligations by a separate 
treaty, and forced those who would have taken the 
Sultan by the throat to let go. 

THE ANGLO-TURKISH CONVENTION. 

This took place at the same time as the Berlin 
Congress; it was simply between Turkey and Eng- 
land. 

Article I. " If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them 
shall be retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be 
made at any future time by Russia to take possession of 
any further territory of His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in 
Asia, as fixed by the Definitive Treaty of Peace, England 
engages to join His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in defend- 
ing them by force of arms. 

" In return, His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, promises 
England to introduce necessary reforms, to be agreed upon 
later between the two powers, into the government and for 
the protection of the Christian and other subjects of the 
Porte in these territories; and in order to enable England to 
make necessary provisions for executing her engagement. 
His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, further consents to assign 
the Island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by 
England. 

Article TIL " If Russia restores to Turkey Kars and the 
other conquests made by her in Armenia during the last war, 
the Island of Cyprus will be evacuated by England, and the 
convention of the 4th of June, 1878, will be at an end." 

When England was preparing this private treaty, 
the English fleet was on the Sea of Marmora, at the 
gate of the Bosphorus, threatening Russia, to make 
her withdraw her soldiers from the gates of Constanti- 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 177 

nople, for the conquering Russian army had reached 
the suburbs, and encamped at San Stefano, only eight 
or ten miles away. But for England, Russia would 
have captured Constantinople, and kept it. But Eng- 
land backed Turkey, and the other powers backed 
England, and Russia reluctantly withdrew her troops. 
But Russia has never forgiven England for it; and if 
England wishes to help the Armenians, no matter 
how many are massacred, Russia will help Turkey, 
while the others side with neither. As to there ever 
being a European concert to reform Armenia, a pleas- 
ant dream which has deluded many thousands, I have 
always laughed at it, and I laugh at it still. The 
powers will never act together for any such purpose. 
It is not " practical politics " to think of it. The real 
center of action is not Germany or Russia, but Eng- 
land, for several reasons. One is that London is the 
money capital of the world. Money rules; money 
buys force. The richest nation is the strongest. 
What does Lombard street say ? is the vital question. 
The second is her navy, the strongest in the world; 
stronger that that of any other two nations combined ; 
perhaps in actual fight a match for all combined. The 
third is that her possessions are everywhere; she is a 
local power in every quarter of the globe; she has to 
pass by everybody's doors in managing her colonies. 
So I will begin with England. 

ENGLAND AND THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 

If England had wished to solve this question, she 

could have done it long ago; but she never cared to. 
12 



178 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

When Mr. Gladstone was in power, he tried to do 
it, but his Cabinet overbore him. He did, however, 
show by isolated cases what power England had if she 
chose to exercise it. After I was banished by the 
Turkish government, two native Christian ministers 
supplied my pulpit. They were sentenced to death 
on a false charge, but Gladstone threatened the Sul- 
tan, and the latter commuted the sentence to ban- 
ishment. These ministers were Professors Thoum- 
aian and Kayayian, who are now in England with 
their families. What could be done on a small scale 
could be done on a large one. I will give here some 
of the speeches of Gladstone on the Armenian ques- 
tion; then compare Lord Salisbury with him and his 
policy. 

W. E. Gladstone. 

He assails Turkey's Intolerable Misgovernment and Emphasizes the 
Value of Impartial American Testimony. 

[By Cable to The New York Herald.] 

London, Aug. 6, 1895. — A pro- American meet- 
ing, presided over by the Duke of Westminster, was 
held at Chester this afternoon. Mr. Gladstone was 
among those present, and upon entering the hall was 
received with great enthusiasm. 

In addressing the meeting, Mr. Gladstone said he 
had attended rather to meet the expectation that he 
would be present than because he had any important 
contribution to make to the discussion of the subject 
under consideration. The question before the meet- 
ing, he said, was not a party question, neither was it 
strictly a religious question, although the sufferers, on 
whose behalf the meeting was called, were Christians. 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 179 

The evil arose from the fact that the sufferers were 
•under an intolerably bad government — one of the 
worst, in fact, that ever existed. A resolution would 
be proposed presenting, with justice and firmness, the 
true view of the matter. Mr. Gladstone added that 
as America had no political interest in the Levant her 
witnesses were doubly entitled to credit. 

Important Treaty Provisions. 

The treaty of 1856, Mr. Gladstone continued, 
gave the powers the right to march into Armenia and 
take the government of the countr}^ out of the hands 
of Turkey, and under the treaty of 1878 the Sultan 
Avas bound to carry out reforms. The ex-Premier 
made three proposals : — First, that the demands of 
the powers should be moderate ; second, that no prom- 
ises of the Turkish authorities should be accepted ; and 
third, that the powers should not fear the word " coer- 
cion." 

" We have reached a critical position," said Mr. 
Gladstone, in conclusion, '' and the honor of the pow- 
ers is pledged to the institution of reforms in Ar- 
menia." 

A resolution was then proposed expressing the 
conviction that the government would have the sup- 
port of the entire nation in any measures it might 
adopt to secure in Armenia reforms guaranteeing to 
the inhabitants safety of life, honor, religion, and 
property, and that no reforms can be effected which 
are not placed under the continuous control of the 
great powers of Europe. The resolution was sec- 
onded by the Kev. Canon Malcolm MacCoU, and was 
adopted. 



180 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Says Baseness and Villany Have Beached a Climax in Turkey's 
Treatment of Armenia. 

[From The New York Herald.] 

London, Dec. 27, 1895. — Murad Bey, formerly 
Ottoman Commissioner of the Turkish debt, who re- 
cently fled from Constantinople to Paris, sent to Mr. 
Gladstone a few days ago a pamphlet which he had 
published in Paris, entitled ^^ The Yildiz Palace and 
the Sublime Porte," with a view to enlightening public 
opinion on Turkish affairs. In the course of his reply 
acknowledging the receipt of the pamphlet, Mr. 
Gladstone disavowed any feeling of enmity toward the 
Turks and Mussulmans generally. He said: — ^'I 
have felt it my duty to make it knoAvn that the Mo- 
hammedans, including the Turks, suffer from the bad 
government of the Sultan. 1 have heartily wished 
success to every effort made toward ending the great 
evil. Still, Turks and other Mohammedans are not, 
so far as I know, plundered, raped, murdered, starved, 
and burned; but this is the treatment that the Sultan 
knowingly deals out to his Armenian subjects daily. 
There are degrees of suffering, degrees of baseness 
and villany among men, and both seem to have 
reached their climax in the case of Armenia." 

His Masterly Speech in Chester Be-enforced with a letter to a 

Turk. 
[From The New York Sun.] 

London, Aug. 10. — -Once more have the wonder- 
ful power and the true greatness of England's Grand 
Old Man been demonstrated in the remarkable re- 
vival of popular interest in the fate of Armenia. The 
whole nation is marveling over his great Speech at 
Chester, and there are no words, even among those 
who have always been his political opponents, save 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. I8l 

those of sympathy and admiration. E'obody is any 
longer foolish enough to deny the main features of 
the fearful atrocities in Armenia, and there is no possi- 
ble doubt of the accuracy of the latest reports that 
thousands near the scene of the massacres are per- 
ishing of starvation. 

The only protest against Mr. Gladstone's speech 
has been a long letter from Khalef Khalid, a con- 
spicuous Turk, who asks the Grand Old Man why 
he hates and denounces the Turks so indiscriminately, 
when as many and as great outrages against the Mo- 
hammedans have been perpetrated by Christians as 
Avere ever committed by the subjects of Islam. 

Mr. Gladstone's reply was made public to-day. It 
is one of the most pointed epistles the old man ever 
wrote. He says: — ''I entirely disclaim the hatred 
and hostility to the Turks, or any race of men, which 
you ascribe to me. I do not doubt that you write in 
entire good faith, but your statements of facts are 
unauthenticated. I proceed only upon authenticated 
statements. I make no charge against the Turks at 
large, but against a Turkish government." I make 
the charges which they have been proved guilty of 
by public authority. In my opinion, I have been a 
far better friend to the Ottoman Empire than have 
the Sultan and his advisers. I have always recom- 
mended the granting of reasonable powers of local self- 
government, which would have saved Turkey from ter- 
rible losses. This good advice has been spurned, and 
in consequence Turkey has lost 18,000,000 of people, 
and may lose more. Pray weigh these words." — 

The birthday of the Ex-Premier was made the oc- 
casion for an anti-Turkish demonstration. 



182 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Outrages and Abominations of 1876 in Bulgaria Repeated in 

Armenia in 1894. 

[From The New York Herald.] 

London, Dec. 29, 1894. — Mr. Gladstone cele- 
brated his eighty-fifth birthday to-day, and was the 
recipient of hundreds of letters and telegrams of con- 
gratulation and parcels containing birthday gifts. Mr. 
Gladstone was in remarkably good health and spirits, 
and, despite the stormy weather, drove through 
the village of Hawarden to the church, where he met 
a deputation of Armenian Christians from Paris and 
London. The deputation presented a silver chalice to 
the church. The chalice was presented to the Rev. 
Stephen Gladstone, son of the ex-Premier, and rector 
of the Hawarden church, in recognition of the interest 
his father has taken in the Armenian outrages. Mr, 
Gladstone, in his reply to the deputation's address, said 
that it was not their duty to assume that all the allega- 
tions of outrages were true, but rather to await the re- 
sult of the inquiry which had been instituted. How- 
ever, he said, the published accounts pointed strongly 
to the conclusion that the outrages, sins, and abomina- 
tions committed in 1876 in Bulgaria had been repeated 
in 1894 in Armenia. Continuing, Mr. Gladstone said: 
" Don't let me be told that one nation has no authority 
over another. Every nation, aye, every human being, 
has authority in behalf of humanity and justice." He 
had been silent, he said, because he had full confidence 
that the government knew its duty. If the allegations 
made should prove to be true, it was time that the 
execration of humanity should force itself upon the 
ears of the Sultan of Turkey, and make him sensible of 
the madness of such a course as was being pursued- 
Mr. Gladstone, in conclusion, said: — "The history of 
Turkey is a sad and painful one. The Turkish race 
has not been without remarkable, even fine qualities, 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 183 

but from too many points of view it has been a scourge 
which has been made use of by a wise Providence for 
the sins of the world. If these tales of murder, viola- 
tion, and outrage be true, well, then, they cannot be 
overlooked, nor can they be made light of. I have 
lived to see the Empire of Turkey in Europe reduced 
to less than one-half of what it was when I was born. 
And why ? Simply because of its misdeeds, and the 
great record written by the hand of Almighty God 
against its injustice, lust, and most abominable cruelty. 
I hope and feel sure that the government of Great 
Britain will do everything that can be done to pierce to 
the bottom of this mystery, and make the facts known 
to the world. 

^^ If happily (I speak hoping against hope) the re- 
ports be disproved or mitigated, let us thank God. If, 
on the other hand, they be established, it will more 
than ever stand before the world that there is a lesson, 
however severe it may be, that can teach certain people 
the duty of prudence, and the necessity of observing 
the laws of decency, humanity, and justice. If the 
allegations are true, it is time that there should be one 
general shout of execration against these deeds of wick- 
edness from outraged humanity. If the facts are well 
established, it should be written in letters of iron upon 
the records of the world that a government which 
could be guilty of countenancing and covering up 
such atrocities is a disgrace to Mohammed the prophet, 
a disgrace to civilization at large, and a disgrace to 
mankind. Now that is strong language, but strong 
language ought to be used when the facts are strong. 
But strong language ought not to be used without the 
strength of facts. 

" I have counseled you to be still and keep your 
judgment in suspense; but as the evidence grows, the 
case darkens, and my hopes dwindle and decline, and 



184 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

as long as I have voice it will be littered in behalf of 
humanity and truth. I wish you heartily every bless- 
ing, and also wish with every heartiness prosperity to 
your nation, however dark the present may seem.'' 

Lord Salisbury. 

ISTow we come to the present Prime Minister, Lord 
Salisbury. He is reputed a great statesman. That 
should mean that he has accomplished something 
great. Well, what ? I know of nothing, have heard 
of nothing. Has he saved any country ? Has he 
elevated any ? Has he done any public action that 
can "be set down to his cfedit ? He has hindered some 
good ones, that is all. On the Armenian question he 
has done enormous harm. If he is not a great hypo- 
crite, there is no use comparing a man's words with his 
actions. I have always told my friends that nothing 
good could be hoped for from him, for morally he is 
worse than the Sultan. An eminent English clergy- 
man told me that Lord Salisbury is another Sultan, 
and I believe him. Here are a few^ of Lord Salis- 
bury's deliverances; see how they agree: — 

[Prom The New York World, August 16, 1895.] 

Lord Salisbury to Sir Philip Currie, the British 
Ambassador to Constantinople: — " The Porte must 
accept the proposals of the Powers unconditionally, or 
England would use sharper means than those adopted 
by Lord Rosebery to settle affairs in Armenia." — 
[July 30, 1895. 

Lord Salisbury, in a speech in London about the 
time of the above, said, " The concert of Europe 
on the Armenian question is complete, and England 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 185 
has the loyal support of other powers to reform Ar- 



menia." 



At another time we note: — ^' There is every rea- 
son to believe that the Chinese government is sincerely 
desirous of punishing the perpetrators of the outrages 
and those who connived at them. Should any luke- 
warmness become discernible, it will become our duty 
to supply its defect. 

" With respect to Armenia, we have accepted the 
policy which our predecessors initiated, and our efforts 
will be directed to obtaining an adequate guarantee 
for the carrying out of reform. We have received the 
most loyal support from both France and Russia. The 
permanence of the Sultan's rule is involved in the con- 
duct he pursues. If the cries of misery continue, the 
Sultan must realize that Europe will become weary 
of appeals, and the fictitious strength which the pow- 
ers have given the empire will fail it. The Sultan will 
make a calamitous mistake if he refuses to accept the 
advice of the European powers relative to the re- 
forms." The House of Lords adopted the address 
in reply to the Queen's speech. 

After the above strong words,. Lord Salisbury 
backed down and sneaked out of his bold attitude in 
this way. (Jan. 31, 1896.) See how he asserts, first 
that England cannot do anything for the Armenians, 
and second that it is not her duty to do anything : — 

[From The New York Tribune.] 

" The Prime Minister expressed sympathy with 
the Armenians, but denied that Great Britain was 
under obligation to declare w^ar against the Sultan 
of Turkey in order to compel him to govern justly, 
and cited the treaties in proof of his contention. He 
ascribed the atrocities to the passions of race and creed. 



186 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

He believed that the Sultan's government was wretched 
and impotent, but there was no ground for im- 
agining that the Sultan had instigated the massacres. 
It might be asked why Europe did not interfere. He 
could only answer for England. She had lacked the 
power to do the only thing necessary to end the trou- 
bles, namely, to militarily occupy Turkish provinces. 
None of the powers wished so to occupy them. 

^^ Lord Salisbury said he concurred in the belief 
that the only authority, albeit it was an evil one, in 
that country was the prestige of the Sultan's name. 
Patience must be exercised, and time must be given 
to His Majesty to enforce the reforms he had prom- 
ised. He remarked upon the gradual return of order 
in Anatolia during the last few weeks, although he 
admitted that these signs should not be trusted too 
much. He concluded by declaring that if Great 
Britain did not co-operate with the other powers, she 
must act against them, which would lead to calamities 
far more awful than the Armenian massacres." 

Ambassador Currie instructed not to exert Undue Pressure on the 

Sultan. 

[From The New York World, 1895.] 

London, ISTov. 23, 1895. — It can be authoritatively 
stated that Lord Salisbury's instructions to Sir Philip 
Currie, the British Ambassador to Turkey, who left 
England a few days ago on his return to his post of 
duty, are to refrain from exerting undue pressure on 
the Sultan for the execution of the reforms in Ar- 
menia, and to give the Porte time to recover from 
the existing administrative anarchy, and appoint au- 
thorities through whom the reforms must be eifected. 

Sir Philip has taken with him an autograph letter 
from the Queen to the Sultan. This is supposed to 
be a reply to a letter the Sultan sent to her with the 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 187 

communication he sent to Lord Salisbury, which the 
latter read at the meeting of the National Union of 
Conservatives at Brighton, on Tuesday night last. 

It is reported that the Queen will invite the Sul- 
tan to visit England, when the time shall be auspi- 
cious. The anxiety at the Foreign Office in regard 
to the East has greatly lessened during the week. 

England possessed the Island of Cyprus, and it be- 
came her duty to look after the reforms in Turkey. 
But now Salisbury denies it, saying that it is not her 
duty, and meantime says that time must be given to 
the Sultan of Turkey, as if all the time had not been 
given him since the Berlin treaty of 1878. 

Salisbury used another silly trick, persuading the 
Queen of England to write a letter to the Sultan and 
appeal to his good nature ; as if the Sultan had a good 
nature; but the Queen wrote the letter. 

A strong criticism b}^ the editor of the 'New York 
" Press " on Lord Salisbury's speech. 

February 3, 1896. 

" We confess that we are at a loss to comprehend 
the meaning of Lord Salisbury's Armenian speech. 
We do not know what to make of it when he says that 
the Berlin Treaty ^^ bound the signatory powers, that, 
if the Sultan promulgated certain reforms, they would 
watch over the progress of these reforms. Nothing 
more." We cannot understand him when he de- 
clares that the Cyprus Convention ' contains no trace 
of an understanding to interfere in behalf of the Sul- 
tan's subjects.' When Russia made, in March, 1878, 
a treaty with Turkey, called the treaty of San Stefano, 
Great Britain became alarmed lest Russia should se- 



188 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

cure too mucli influence in Constantinople. Kussia 
then held some Armenian provinces bordering on her 
territory, and it seemed clear that it was her purpose to 
seize others. England protested to the Sultan against 
the treaty of San Stefano, but the government of the 
Ottoman Porte was helpless against the Czar, and the 
Sultan declared that he must adhere to the treaty. 
Great Britain then secretly bound herself to aid Tur- 
key by force of arms in preventing Russia from ap- 
propriating further Armenian provinces, Turkey 
agreeing, on her part, to reform her local administra- 
tion in her remaining Armenian provinces and as- 
signing the island of Cyprus to be occupied and ad- 
ministered by Great Britain. 

" Great Britain, meanwhile, had incited the other 
powers of Europe to take action against the treaty of 
San Stefano. Austria was induced to suggest a Euro- 
pean C^ongress. Russia at first refused to go into this 
Congress; but, seeing that all the great powers were 
uniting against her, she consented to attend. The re- 
sult of this Congress was the Treaty of Berlin, signed 
by the six powers, — England, Russia, Germany, 
Erance, Austria, and Italy. By this treaty Turkey 
was stripped of Bulgaria, Servia, and Roumania, and 
Russia was deprived of all she had won during 
the Turko-Russian war, except the Armenian pro- 
vinces which she still controls. By this treaty, also, 
the signatory powers became guardians and trustees of 
the Ottoman Porte, pledging themselves that religious 
freedom should be secured in the Turkish Empire, and 
that Armenian Christians should be protected against 
the Circassians and Kurds. 

" We are puzzled, therefore, to understand Lord 
Salisbury when he says that all these promises did not 
mean anything. Certainly he ought to know, for, as 
the agent of the Disraeli government, it was Lord 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 189 

Salisbury who drafted the agreements and drew up 
the promises. For eighteen years Christian civihza- 
tion has supposed that they did mean something. But 
Lord SaHsbury says not. He says that all the powers 
agreed to do was to ' watch over the execution of those 
reforms ' if they were promulgated. 

" What does that mean, anyway ? Does it mean, 
as the Christian world has all along supposed, that the 
six powers would engage themselves to see that these 
reforms were carried out by Turkey, or does it mean 
that if the reforms were carried out they would simply 
look on ; and if the reforms were not carried out, if ten 
thousand Armenian homes were destroyed, and four 
times ten thousand Armenian citizens were butchered, 
they would still simply look on ? 

" ^or do we understand Lord Salisbury when he 
pleads that it requires time for the Turkish govern- 
ment to carry out the reforms ^ which the Sultan re- 
cently has accepted.' Why the Turkish govern- 
ment ? There is no Turkish government. There is 
a Mohammedan administration, but the government 
of the Ottoman Porte expired with the Treaty of Ber- 
lin. The Turkish government is vested de facto in 
the six signatory powers of the Berlin Congress. Even 
the local government of Constantinople itself lies in 
the hands of these powers. The capital is divided into 
six sections, each controlled by a treaty power. Each 
has its own coiTrts, its own military, even its own police. 
When Englishmen wish a wrong to be righted in the 
Turkish Empire, or a reform to be executed, they do 
not request the ^ Turkish government ' to listen to 
their appeal. The British Minister summons the 
Grand Yezir and orders him to do what is wished. 
And he does it forthwith, so far as he is permitted by 
the orders of the representatives of the other treaty 
powers. It is in London, in Berlin, in St. Petersburg, 



190 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

in Paris, in Vienna, and in Rome that the Turkish 
government rests. 

" It is for these reasons that we are unable to un- 
derstand what Lord Salisbury means when he says 
that the Berlin Treaty and the Cyprus Convention 
impose no responsibility for Armenian reforms upon 
any one save the Sultan. The Cyprus Convention 
specifies : — 

^^ Treaty of Defensive Alliance between the British 
Government and the Sublime Porte, signed on June 
4, 1878:— 

Article I. If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of them 
shall be retained by Russia, and if any attempt shall be 
made at any future time by Russia to take possession of 
any further territories of his imperial Majesty, the Sultan, 
in Asia, as fixed by the definitive treaty of peace, England 
engages to join His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, in defend- 
ing them by force of arms. In return, His Imperial Majesty, 
the Sultan, promises to England to introduce necessary 
reforms, to be agreed upon later between the two powers, 
into the government, and for the protection of Christian and 
other subjects of the Porte in these territories; and in order 
to enable England to make necessary provision for executing 
her engagement, His Imperial Majesty, the Sultan, further 
consents to assign the Island of Cyprus, to be occupied and 
administered by England. 

" Why, then, does not Lord Salisbury carry out 
England's pledges, for which he is directly responsi- 
ble, since he made them in her name ? 

'' England must be held to an accounting for the 
disorders in Armenia. There are no such disorders 
in the provinces administered by the Czar, provinces 
adjoining those where for the last six years pillage, 
destruction, and murder have swept away every sign 
of government. In the provinces controlled by the 
Czar the Armenians have been so well treated, enjoy- 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 191 

ing unquestioned religious freedom and rights, that 
there have been not the slightest disorders. But in 
the provinces where England pledged reform, the Ar- 
menian is butchered daily. 

^' Does Lord Salisbury mean that so long as Great 
Britain occupies Cyprus, pending the execution of re- 
forms, it is better for England that the reforms should 
not be executed and that England should ' watch 
over them; nothing more ' ? " 

]^ote carefully what Salisbury says first; then what 
he says afterward. First he says there is complete 
concert among the powers, then he says there is not; 
first he threatens the Sultan, then he is friendly. 
First he seems to be a brave and noble statesman, then 
a cowardly politician. 

Sir Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Con- 
stantinople, is a brave and noble gentleman. He was 
sent there by the Liberal government, before Salis- 
bury's accession. He has done a great deal for the 
Armenian cause. But after Lord Salisbury became 
Prime Minister, he called him to London and in- 
structed him to have cordial relations with the Sultan, 
and now he can do nothing. 

Finally there appear to be two Englands, con- 
servative England and liberal England, slave Eng- 
land and free England, selfish England and noble 
and sympathetic England, false England and true 
England. The head of conservative, selfish, false, op- 
pressive England is Lord Salisbury. The head of 
liberal, free, noble, and true England is Mr. Glad- 
stone. Therefore nothing for Armenia can be ex- 



192 AR^lENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

pectecl from the Conservatives, wliile much may be 
hoped from the Liberals. Gladstone is an old man, 
but God will raise a Joshua to succeed Moses; Glad- 
stone will see the Armenian nation free, and then he 
will die. 

GERMANY AND THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 

Listen to what the haughty young ruler of Ger- 
many says: — "It is better that the Armenians be 
killed than the peace of Europe be disturbed.'' The 
explanation is easy enough. When he visited Con- 
stantinople half a dozen years ago, the Sultan pre- 
sented him with Arabian horses, jewelry of massive 
gold, and many other valuable articles, worth in all 
several hundred thousand dollars; and last summer 
sent him a beautiful and valuable sword made in Con- 
stantinople by Armenians, which was carried to him 
by Shakir Pasha, the butcher who was afterwards 
appointed by the Sultan to reform Armenia, — the 
commander of the " Hamidieh Cavalry," whose Avork 
I tell of later on. This embassy was to secure the al- 
liance of Germany against molestation by Russia. 

The German Emperor has three motives in his 
present action. One is to show gratitude for the Sul- 
tan's generosity — as though it were not the easiest 
thing in the world to be munificent when it all comes 
out of other people. The second is to punish Lord 
Salisbury for not getting England to join the Triple 
Alliance, when the Emperor asked him in person 
on his journey to England. When Salisbury threat- 
ened the Sultan in the interest of Armenia, the Ger- 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 193 

man Emperor said, '^ The English government has 
no right to interfere with the Turkish Empire. Every 
sovereign must have the right to govern as he thinks 
necessary, or he is no sovereign." He afterwards 
sent his Chancellor, Prince Hohenlohe, to the Czar 
to arrange united resistance to England, and after- 
wards sent Count Yon Moltke on the same errand. 
And the Czar instructed his Ambassador at Con- 
stantinople, M. E^elidoff, to inform the Sultan that 
he would not support the English government in 
coercing Turkey. The Sultan therefore refused Sal- 
isbury's demands, and he dared not go on alone. The 
Emperor's third motive was to gain the friendship of 
the Czar against France, which had lately been taking 
up the Russian alliance with great fervor. Another 
reason is that he hates the Armenians for having 
bought the German factories and property in Amas- 
sia. He is very anxious to plant German colonies in 
Turkey, of all places in the world, for profit. There 
are about fifty families in Amassia, near Marsovan, 
and they had started various kinds of factories there; 
but the shrewd and wealthy Armenians bought them 
out. The Emperor is angry because his colony was 
not successful. 

For all these reasons the German Emperor refused 
to send gunboats to the Bosphorus when the other 
powers did; he said he saw no need of it. He was 
right so far as Germans were concerned; the Sultan 
was not going to allow his ally's subjects to be slaugh- 
tered and the ally turned into an enemy. And if he 
13 



194 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

could stop the massacre of one sort of people, he could 
of another; nothing shows the Sultan's deliberate 
purpose in the massacres better than the fact that 
when he chose not to let any particular sort of people 
be harmed, that sort were not harmed. But as to 
Germany, what hope for Armenia is there from it ? 
The Emperor has his own interests, and the Armen- 
ians might be tortured or outraged to death, and 
he would not stir a finger. 

RUSSIA AND THE ARMENIANS. 

The present Czar, Nicholas II, is a corrupt weak- 
ling, who is on the throne by the law of heredity, 
against the will of his father. Morally he is as bad 
as the Sultan; not so cruel yet, though he may de- 
velop that in time, but fully as sensual and de- 
void of principle. I have had it from good Russian 
authority that his life before his marriage was so bad 
that it has rendered him entirely impotent. " Birds 
of a feather flock together." No wonder he helps 
the Sultan. His political aims and character are 
wholly selfish. He, too, like the German Emperor, 
is continually exchanging presents with the Sultan. 
Here is a press notice of Feb. 26, 1896: — " M. 
Nelidoff, the Russian Ambassador, has presented 
to the Sultan a pair of jasper vases from the 
Czar, together with an autograph letter from His Ma- 
jesty thanking the Sultan for the gifts sent to him." 
'Not only so, but they have concluded an alliance. 
Read the following dispatch of Jan. 23, 1896: — 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 195 

" London, Jan. 23, 1896. — A dispatch to the Pall 
Mall Gazette from Constantinople, dated yesterday, 
says that an offensive and defensive alliance has been 
concluded between Russia and Turkey. The Pall Mall 
Gazette correspondent adds that the treaty was signed 
at Constantinople, and that the ratifications were ex- 
changed at St. Petersburg between Arifi Pasha and 
the Czar. 

" The basis of the treaty is declared to be on the 
lines of the Unkiarskelessi agreement of 1833, by 
which Turkey agreed, in the event of Russia going 
to war, to close the Dardanelles to war-ships of all 
nations. The Pall Mall Gazette's correspondent then 
says the treaty will soon be abandoned, owing to the 
refusal of the powers to recognize it. He also says 
that the French Ambassador, M. Cambon, conferred 
with the Sultan yesterday, and that it is probable 
France will be included in the new alliance. 

"The Pall Mall Gazette says: ^ We regard the 
news as true, and the result of the treaty is that the 
Dardanelles is now the Southern outpost of Russia, 
and Turkey is Russia's vassal. We presume the 
British government will protest against the treaty for 
all it is worth. 

" ^ The information is plainly of the A^ery gravest 
importance. The first intimation reached us four 
days ago ; but we withheld it until the arrival of strong 
confirmation, which we received this morning. This 
brings Russia into the Mediterranean with a ven- 
geance, and may necessitate the strengthening of our 
fleet in those waters. Politically, the effect will be 
far greater. The treaty means that Turkey has real- 
ized her own impotence against disorders both from 
within and without, and has decided to throw herself 
for safety into the arms of Russia. She is now Rus- 
sia's vassal, and Russia is entitled to dispatch troops 



196 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

to any part of the Sultan's dominions whenever there 
is the least breach of order — and when is there not ? 
" ^ We presume the arrangement will give the keen- 
est satisfaction to the Anglo-American section of our 
people. With them lies the chief blame for the 
complete alienation of Turkey, though it must be 
owned that it has been sedulously fostered by a long 
term of weak policy at Constantinople.' " 

For the present the Czar will do no more mischief, 
because he is to have his coronation in May, and pre- 
fers to put on the smoothest outside to every nation; 
but after that is over he will show his hand. His 
father and his grandfather favored the Armenians in 
Russia, and they prospered wonderfully, but this one 
proposes to persecute them to please the Sultan. The 
two will join in a common policy toward the unhappy 
race, till not less than a million are slain. The Czar's 
motive is not love of the Sultan, whom he hates in 
spite of their community of character; it is simply 
that he wishes to get Constantinople peaceably if he 
can. The Sultan knows this quite well, but he is too 
w^eak in military power, and too poor, and owes too 
large an indemnity to the Czar to be able to help him- 
self. He is compelled to throw himself on the Czar 
for protection. 

Will the Czar succeed in getting Constantinople ? 
^o; the attempt will ruin and break up the Russian 
Empire. All the European powers would resist it; 
some of them may seem friendly to the Czar now, but 
when he comes to seize Constantinople every one of 
them will be against him. He Avill try it, none the 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 197 

less. The famous '^ will " of Peter the Great, though 
a patent and notorious forgery of Napoleon's, — never 
seen till 1812, just before the Russian campaign, and 
circulated then to influence Europe against Russia, — 
was the most magnificent piece of forgery ever com- 
mitted, for it has actually become a guiding policy to 
the country it was aimed against, just as if it had 
been real. Nothing in history equals this for impu- 
dence and success combined ; it is a true Napoleonism. 
This bogus ^' will " has become the ^' Monroe doc- 
trine '' of Russia; I am not entitled to say whether 
the latter is as mischievoiis as the former. That most 
Russian of all Russian journals, the " Ruskija Yja- 
domosti," has lately been having one of its periodical 
spasms of hysterical hatred toward all policy not 
" good Russian,'' and boldly proclaims that Russia 
must follow the precepts laid down in this will ! 
Since, therefore, it is just as important as if it were 
not the greatest of all " fakes," I give it here that the 
reader may know what Russian policy is to be : — 

Will of Peter the Great. 
In the name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity, 
we, Peter the Great, unto all our descendants and succes- 
sors to the throne and government of the Russian nation: the 
All-Powerful, from whom we hold our life and our throne, 
after having revealed unto us his wishes and intentions, 
and after being our support, permits us to look upon Russia 
as called upon to establish her rule over all Europe. This 
idea is based upon the fact that all nations of this portion 
of the globe are fast approaching a state of utter decrepi- 
tude. From this it results that they can be easily conquered 
by a new race of people when it has attained full power 
and strength. We look upon our invasion of the West and 



198 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

East as a decree of divine providence, which has already 
once regenerated the Roman Empire by an invasion of 
"barbarians." 

The emigration of men from the North is like the inunda- 
tion of the Nile, which, at certain seasons, enriches with its 
waters the arid plains of Egypt. We found Russia a small 
rivulet; we leave it an immense river. Our successors will 
make it an ocean, destined to fertilize the whole of Europe if 
they know how to guide its waves. We leave them, then, 
the following insti uctions, which we earnestly recommend 
to their constant meditation. 

I. To keep the Prussian nation in constant warfare, in 
order always to have good soldiers. Peace must only be 
permitted to recuperate finance, to recruit the army, to 
choose the moment favorable for attack. Thus peace will 
advance your projects of war, and war those of peace, for 
obtaining the enlargement and prosperity of Russia. 

II. Draw unto you by all possible means, from the 
civilized nations of Europe, captains during war and learned 
men during peace, so that Russia may benefit by the ad- 
vantages of other nations. 

III. Take care to mix in the affairs of all Europe, and 
in particular of Germany, which, being the nearest nation 
to you, deserves your chief attention. 

IV. Divide Poland by raising up continual disorders 
and jealousies within its bosom. Gain over its rulers with 
gold influence and corrupt the Diet, in order to have a 
voice in the election of the kings. Make partisans and pro- 
tect them; if neighboring powers raise objections and op- 
position, surmount the obstacles by stirring up discord 
within their countries. 

V. Take all you can from Sweden, and to this effect 
isolate her from Denmark, and vice versa. Be careful to 
rouse their mutual jealousy. 

A^I. Marry Russian princes to German Princesses; 
multiply these alliances, unite these interests, and by the in- 
crease of our influence attach Germany to our cause. 

VII. Seek the alliance with England on account of our 
commerce, as being the country most useful for the develop- 
ment of our navy, merchants, etc., and for the exchange of 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 199 

our produce against her gold. Keep up continual communi- 
cation with her merchants and sailors, so that ours may ac- 
quire experience in commerce and navigation. 

VIII. Constantly extend yourselves along the shores of 
the Baltic and the borders of the Euxine. 

IX. Do all in your power to approach closely Constan- 
tinople and India. Remember that he who rules over these 
countries is the real sovereign of the world. Keep up con- 
tinued wars with Turkey and with Persia. Establish dock- 
yards in the Black Sea. Gradually obtain the command of 
this sea as well as of the Baltic. This is necessary for the 
entire success of our projects. Hasten the fall of Persia. 
Open for yourself a route toward the Persian Gulf. 
Re-establish as much as possible, by means of Syria, the 
ancient commerce of the Levant, and thus advance toward 
India. Once there you will not require English gold. 

X. Carefully seek the alliance of Austria. Make her 
believe that you will second her in her projects for dominion 
over Germany, but secretly stir up other princes against 
her, and manage so that each be disposed to claim the 
assistance of Russia; and exercise over each a sort of pro- 
tection, which will lead the way to a future dominion over 
them. 

XI. Make Austria drive the Turks out of Europe, and 
neutralize her jealousy by offering to her a portion of your 
conquests, which you will further on take back. 

XII. Above all, recall around you the schismatic Greeks 
who are spread over Hungary and Poland. Become their 
center, and support a universal dominion over them by a 
kind of sacerdotal autocracy; by this you will have many 
friends among your enemies. 

XIII. Sweden dismembered, Persia conquered, Poland 
subjugated, Turkey beaten, our armies united, the Black 
and Baltic seas guarded by our vessels, prepare, separately 
and secretly, first the court of Versailles, then that of 
Vienna, to share the empire of the universe with Russia. 
If one accept, flatter her ambition and vanity, and make 
use of one to crush the other by engaging them in war. The 
result cannot be doubted; Russia will be possessed of the 
whole of the East and a great portion of Europe. 



200 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

XIV. If, which is not probable, both should refuse the 
offer of Russia, raise a quarrel between them, and one which 
will ruin them both; then Russia, profiting by this decisive 
movement, will inundate Germany with the troops which she 
will have assembled beforehand. At the same time two 
fleets full of soldiers will leave the Baltic and the Black 
Sea, will advance along the Mediterranean and the ocean, 
keeping France in check with the one and Germany with 
the other. And these two countries conquered, the re- 
mainder of Europe will fall under our yoke. Thus can 
Europe be subjugated. 

But aside from this, no help could be expected 
from Russia in any event, because she needs all her 
strength to save herself from destruction by her own 
internal decay. She is a great tree, hollow in the in- 
side. The Nihilists and the Constitutional Reform- 
ers are both against her, and, in my belief, she will go 
to pieces in the present Czar's lifetime. The Sul- 
tan's days are numbered, but the Czar's and the Em- 
peror's are too; their own people will rise and depose 
them. It is against Socialists and Nihilists that they 
are massing such great armies. How can they spare 
any service for a people being murdered off the earth ? 

FRANCE AND ARMENIA. 
Of the other powers, little need be said. France 
has lost all her great men, and become a tail to Rus- 
sia, and is ready to be moved blindly, as Russia may 
direct. And as part of the people are infidels, and 
the rest fanatical Catholics, there is no religious mo- 
tive to prompt them to come to the rescue. France, 
in a word, can or will do nothing directly; all it can 
do is to threaten the haughty Emperor of Germany. 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 201 

Italy is bankrupt, and even the throne of King Hum- 
bert is in danger, and that country will follow in the 
wake of Austria. 

THE POPE OF ROME AND THE ARMENIANS. 

Pope Leo XIII sent 70,000 lire to the Armenian 
sufferers; probably to the Catholics alone, for there 
are about 100,000 Catholic Armenians in Turkey. 
But the Armenians can expect no help from the Pope ; 
he has no troops; he has no great fund of spare money, 
and he would be very unlikely to use either if he had 
them. The motive of all the Popes has been to con- 
vert the Protestant Armenian Church to become a 
part of the Roman Catholic Church, — to acknowledge 
the Papacy. I say Protestant, for before Martin Lu- 
ther was born, the Armenian Church protested against 
the popes of Pome age after age, and was persecuted 
by them. The Armenians offer their thanks to the 
Pope for his gifts, but they cannot accept his domin- 
ion. 

[Press dispatch, N. Y. Herald.] 

Rome, Dec. 16, 1895.— The Pope has sent 20,- 
000 lire for the relief of the sufferers from Turkish 
misrule in Anatolia, in addition to the 50,000 lire 
previously given by him for the same purpose." 

The European edition published recently in a 
dispatch from Rome the following passage dealing 
with the Eastern question in the allocution delivered 
by Leo XIII at the consistory on Xovember 29 : — 

" The whole of Europe in anxious expectation 
looks toward its eastern neighbor, troubled by griev- 



202 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ons events and internal conflicts. The sight of towns 
and villages defiled by scenes of blood and of vast ex- 
tents of territory ravaged by fire and sword is a cruel 
and lamentable spectacle.- 

'' While the powers are taking counsel together 
in the laudable effort to find means of putting an end 
to the carnage and restore quiet, we have not omitted 
to defend this noble and just cause to the extent of 
our power. Long before these recent events, we vol- 
untarily intervened in favor of the Armenian nation. 
AYe advised concord, quiet, and equity. 

^^ Our counsels did not appear to give offense. We 
mean to pursue the work we have begun, for we desire 
nothing so much as to see the security of persons and 
all rights safeguarded throughout the immense em- 
pire. 

" In the meantime we have decided to send help 
to the most tried and the most needy of the Armen- 
ians." 

AMERICA AND ARMENIA, 
^ow we cross the ocean and come to the United 
States. Everywhere here the people have shown the 
greatest sympathy for us; and the Armenians are 
deeply moved and exceedingly grateful for it. The 
newspapers have almost uniformly been on our side 
also; the only exception of any moment has been the 
^ew York " Herald," which has steadily favored the 
Sultan. The reason is the same as for General Wal- 
lace's like opinion of that worthless animal, — mis- 
taking his entertainments and gifts for proofs of good 
character, humanity, and statesmanship. Mr. Ben- 
nett, too, knows the taste of the dinners at the palace, 
and perhaps the weight of the golden ornaments he 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 203 

gives out. Fortunately his paper has very little in- 
fluence on public opinion; and the real leaders of it 
have remained true. 

I believe it will be the Americans who will finally 
put an end to the Armenian atrocities; but the time 
has not come yet. It will take two years more, then 
this 70,000,000 of people will be aroused as one man 
and stop them. I should like here to give an account 
of the many mass meetings held here for our cause; 
but I can only take space for two, one which I organ- 
ized in Baltimore, and one held in 'New York, at 
which I was present. 

Mass-Meeting at Levering Hall, Baltimore 

[Report from Baltimore Sun.] 

December 11, 1894. — An enthusiastic meeting of 
Baltimoreans was held last night at Levering Hall, 
Johns Hopkins University, to make an emphatic pro- 
test against the Turkish outrages upon Christian Ar- 
menians, and to urge the United States government 
to do all in its power to remedy the existing evils. 

The meeting was called by a committee of Balti- 
more ministers. It was presided over by Attorney- 
(ieneral John P. Poe, and the Rev. T. M. Beadenkoff 
was the secretary. 

Addresses were made by Mr. Poe, Bev. George H. 
Filian, an exiled Armenian Christian Minister, Rabbi 
Wm. Rosenan, and Rev. Dr. F. M. Ellis. 

Cardinal Gibbons and Judge Harlan sent letters 
regretting their inability to be present, and express- 
ing sympathy with the object of the gathering. 

Mr. Poe, in taking the chair, said: — ^^ The ac- 
counts which have reached us of the indescribable 
atrocities recently committed upon the Christians in 



204 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Armenia have stirred the indignation and aroused the 
sympathy of the whole country. 

'^ At first the nameless outrages inflicted upon 
them were received with incredulity, for it seemed al- 
most impossible that they could be true. But there is 
now no reason to discredit the harrowing details. In- 
deed, denial is hardly any longer attempted, nor is it 
claimed that the reports of the cruelties of which these 
helpless people are the victims have been exaggerated. 

" Conscious that the facts cannot be suppressed 
or belittled, the representatives and apologists of the 
ruthless perpetrators of these atrocities are endeavor- 
ing to palliate and excuse the enormities which they 
cannot truthfully deny. In order to shield them- 
selves and their governments from universal execra- 
tion, the world is asked to believe that the Christians 
of Armenia were themselves the aggressors, and that 
the horrors of massacre and rapine which have been 
visited upon them wdth such relentless fury were but 
necessary and pardonable measures of punishment and 
repression. The long record of the patient and sub- 
missive sufferers is a silent yet unanswerable refuta- 
tion of this falsehood. 

" In their misery and woe these sufferers lift their 
eyes to us, and ask us to extend to them such sympathy 
and assistance as will rescue them from total ruin. 

^' We are met here to-night to express these feel- 
ings — to declare that we cannot look unmoved upon 
the calamities of our Christian brethren, though sep- 
arated from us by thousands of miles, and to recom- 
mend to Congress the adoption of such measures as, 
without departure from the well-settled policy of our 
government, will bring; to them speedy and effectual 
deliverance, safety, and peace." 

Cardinal Gibbons' letter sent to the meeting was 
as follows: 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 205 

" I regret my inability to attend tlie meeting to 
protest against the alleged outrages recently com- 
mitted in Armenia. 

" The reports of these outrages have been pub- 
lished with harrowing details throughout the civilized 
world, and I am not aware that these circumstantial 
details have been successfully denied. 

^' The Christians of Armenia have been conspicu- 
ous among their Oriental co-religionists for their en- 
lightened and progressive spirit. 

^' It is earnestly to be hoped that these alleged 
deeds of lawless violence will be thoroughly investi- 
gated in a calm and dispassionate spirit, so that the 
whole truth may be brought to light, and that out- 
raged law may be vindicated. The recital of these in- 
human cruelties is calculated to fill every generous 
heart with righteous indignation. 

" The commercial and social ties that now bind 
together the human family quicken our sympathy for 
our suffering brethren, though separated from us by 
ocean and mountains, and this sympathy is deepened 
by the consideration that many of their countrymen 
have cast their lot among us, and that they and their 
persecuted brethren are united to us in the sacred 
bonds of a common Christian faith. 

" It is gratifying to note, from recent publications, 
that a mixed commission, to make thorough investiga- 
tion, has been appointed by the Sublime Porte." 

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin of Lexington, Mass., whose 
article on the outrages in Armenia, published in the 
"Congregationalist," has been used by the Turkish gov- 
ernment as a defense of the recent actions of the sol- 
diers of the Porte, was asked to be present at the meet- 
ing, and was also asked to define his position as to the 
probable accuracy of the reports from Armenia, and as 



206 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

to the responsibility of the Sultan for the occurrence 
of the massacre. 

His letter of reply was read at the meeting. lie 
stated emjDhatically that he believed the accounts 
of the horrible atrocities to be in the main true, and 
added that he believed the Sultan of Turkey was per- 
fectly cognizant of them, and should be held respon- 
sible for them. 

Extracts were also read from a letter from some 
Congregational missionaries now near the seat of the 
massacres. The stories which they told, having been 
written nearly a month after the occurrences, showed 
that the earlier dispatches did not enlarge upon or ex- 
aggerate the horror of the scenes. 

Much interest was manifested in the address of 
Mr. Filian, who feelingly described the pitiable con- 
dition of his country and his countrymen, and graph- 
ically portrayed the extent of the recent massacres, 
illustrating his talk with references to a large map 
of Turkey and Armenia. 

" Armenia,'' he said, ^' was mentioned in the Bible 
700 years before Chrisl. It then had an area of 1,- 
000,000 square miles, and it was in that land that the 
Garden of Eden was situated. Adam was created 
there, and within its confines, upon Mt. Ararat, the 
ark of ^N^oah found a resting place after the flood. Ar- 
menia was named after Armen, the great-grandson of 
Japhet, one of the three sons of Noah. In the time 
of Christ the population of the country was 40,000,- 
000. It was fully Christianized in 310 A. D., and 
was not only the first Christian nation of the earth, 
but the first civilized nation. And now, from all 
these glories, the people of Armenia have dwindled 
to 4,000,000." 

He concluded by citing the cause of the massacre 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 207 

as the desire of the Turks to check the rapid growth 
and improvement of the Armenians. 

The following resolutions, which had been pre- 
pared by a committee composed of Rev. Dr. Conrad 
Clever, Rev. W. T. McKenney, Rev. F. T. Tagg, and 
Rev. C. A. Fulton, were, after some discussion, 
passed : 

" It has come to our knowledge through sources that 
cannot be disputed that an outrageous massacre of Ar- 
menians has been executed within the boundaries of the 
Turkish empire. 

" These outrages have been committed by soldiers who 
are in the employ and under the direction of the Sultan at 
Constantinople. 

" The thousands who have been murdered were Chris- 
tians and peaceably disposed citizens. 

" We, representatives of the citizens of Baltimore, 
prompted by motives of Christianity and common brother- 
hood, do call upon our government to use every power in its 
control, in harmony with that international law which 
governs nations in their relationship with each other, to aid 
these sufferers, and if possible to bring such influence to 
bear upon the Turkish government as will render justice to 
those who have been deprived of their rightful liberties as 
honest and industrious citizens of one of the recognized em- 
pires of the earth." 

It was also resolved that a committee of five, with 
Mr. John P. Poe chairman, should be appointed to 
present the resolutions to the president at the earliest 
opportunity, and "' to gratefully acknowledge the steps 
already taken in the appointment of an American 
member of the committee of investigation." 

Mass Meeting In Dr. Greer's Church. 

[■Report from N. Y. Tribune.] 

The interest which the American Christian feels 
in the Armenian question was shown by the large at- 
tendance at St. Bartholomew's Church, last night, 
Avhen a special service w^as held under the direction of 
Rev. Dr. David H. Greer. The object was to express 



208 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

indignation at Turkey's acts of violence toward Ar- 
menians, and to enter a protest against a course of con- 
duct which is not in keeping with the spirit of the 
nineteenth century. 

The main body of the church was reserved for 
ArmenianSj of whom there were about 500 present. 

After the processional hymn, " The Son of God 
Goes Forth/' had been given, the full choir sang the 
anthem, '^ I Will Mention the Loving Kindnesses of 
the Lord." 

Dr. Greer then spoke of the outrages committed 
last September in Armenia, the particulars of which 
had only recently become known. He said in part: 

" The purpose of this meeting is not only to ex- 
press sympathy with those who have suffered, and are 
suffering now from the atrocities and barbarious cruel- 
ties inflicted by Turkish soldiers, but for protesting 
against the further infliction of such atrocities. What 
has been done is done, and cannot be undone; but if 
it is possible to prevent in any measure a repetition 
of it in the future, it should become everyone who is 
not a Christian merely, but a man, to exert himself 
to the utmost in that direction." 

The speaker told of the untrustworthiness of re- 
ports from Turkey, and said that letters recently re- 
ceived from good sources give the following details: 

Early in September soiiie Kurds — the brigands 
of that region — robbed some Armenian villages of 
their flocks. The Armenians tried to recover their 
property, and about a dozen Kurds were killed. The 
authorities then telegraphed to the Sultan that the 
Armenians had killed some of the Sultan's troops. 
The Sultan on hearing this ordered the army, infan- 
try, and cavalry, to put down the rebellion; and not 
finding any rebellion to put down, they cleared the 
country so that none should occur in the future. A 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 209 

number of towns and villages — tlie estimate varying 
from twenty-four to forty-eight — were destroyed. 
Men, women, and children were put to the sword, and 
from six to ten thousand persons massacred in the dis- 
trict of Sassoun. As the result of this wholesale 
butchery and slaughter, an epidemic of cholera has 
broken out, which is still ravaging the country. 

The Turk has always been a cruel force, and has 
practiced his cruelties hitherto with impunity. But 
he cannot do so now. An enlightened public opinion 
is to-day the governing power of the world. It is to 
that we have to trust to accomplish moral reforms, 
not only here, but everywhere. It is stronger than 
states; it is mightier than empires, and the most ar- 
bitrary and autocratic of despots feel its controlling 
force. It is the force that moves the world. If meet- 
ings similar to this are held in different parts of 
the country and public sentiment aroused, even the 
Turkish authorities Avill not be impervious to it. 

Dr. Greer read a letter from Bishop Potter, in 
which he expressed his regret at being unable to be 
present at the meeting. ^' I am,'' he wrote, ^^ A Mon- 
roe-doctrine disciple, first, last, and all time, but I 
am a human being also, and while I think our com- 
petency as a nation to send a commissioner to Turk- 
ish-Armenia is open to question, I am quite clear that 
our duty as something else than savages is to protest 
against barbarism wherever it is to be found." 

The Rev. Abraham Johannan then spoke in Ar- 
menian, and was followed by the Rev. Dr. George 
II. McGrew, who, during years of missionary work 
in Armenia, had become familiar with the people and 
their customs, and gave vivid pictures of the hatred 
of the Turks toward any who acknowledges Christ as 
the Son of God. 
14 



210 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Mr. DepeiD's Speech. 

Chauncey M. Depew was then introduced, and 
made an eloquent appeal for the Armenians. He said 
in part: 

"" The closing days of 1894 could not be passed 
more appropriately than in a protest by the Christian 
peoples of the world against the outrages upon human- 
ity which will be the ever-living disgrace of the dying 
year. The industrial and financial disturbances which 
have convulsed the world, and caused such widespread 
distress during the last twelve months, are of tem- 
porary and passing importance compared with the 
merciless persecutions of a people because of their ^ 
religious faith. 

''It is a criticism upon the boastfulness of the 
nineteenth century that there should be any occasion 
for this meeting, but it is also a tribute to the spirit of 
the century that this meeting is held. There have 
been religious wars and persecutions, and bloody re- 
prisals, in all ages of modern times. They arouse our 
indignation and our horror, but they excited little at- 
tention beyond the countries where they occurred 
from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. The 
distinguishing feature of our period is an internation- 
al public opinion. It came with steam and electricity; 
it is the child of liberty of conscience. The Turkish 
government, founded by the sword of Islam, is a hier- 
archv and a creed, and not a government of liberty and 
law." 

Mr. Depew then described the disadvantages 
under which Christians dwell in Turkey, and how 
their standing before the law amounts to nothing. 

" It was the atrocities incident to such institutions," 
he said, '' which aroused Europe and liberated Greece, 
which caused the other nations to stand still and risk 
the balance of power, while Kussia freed Bulgaria, 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 211 

Eoumania, and Servia, and made tliem practically in- 
dependent states. It was to assure religious liberty 
that the treaty of Berlin recognized the autonomy 
of the states, and bound the Christian nations of Eu- 
rope to protect the Christian people still within the 
Turkish dominion." 

After holding up to ridicule the European 
" peace " which is being maintained with continually 
growing armies, Mr. Depew said: " The Armenians 
are the New Englanders of the East. Their intel- 
lect, industry, and thrift make them prosperous." He 
spoke of their being the oldest Christian people, and 
of the sacrifices which they have made and which they 
daily make in the cause of their faith. The horrible 
outrages committed against the peasants in Armenia 
w^ere graphically described, and in this connection Mr. 
Depew said: 

^^ The story of the attacks of these savage hordes 
and no less savage troops reads as if fourteenth-cen- 
tury conditions, repeated with all their horrors in 
1894, were the means adopted by Providence to 
shame the civilized w^orld into the performance of its 
duty, and to stir the Christian conscience to a sense 
of its neglect of it." 

Mr. Depew's description of the heroism of the Ar- 
menian women who, rather than be captured by the 
Turks and suffer defilement, threw themselves into the 
ravine which surrounded their village, moved the 
audience deeply. He went on: 

" The world has taken little note of this supreme 
tragedy. Fifty years from now, and some painter 
will become immortal by putting it upon canvas. A 
few years, and some novelist will mount to enduring 
fame by a romance, of which it will be the center. 
A few years, and some poet will embalm it in verse 
which will stand in literature alongside of the battle 



212 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

lyrics of Campbell, Macaulay, and Tennyson. Some 
orator will give to the narrative and its lesson a setting • 
and an inspiration, so that from the stage of the school 
and the academy, from the lips of the boys and the 
girls, it will teach down the centuries the triumphs 
of patriotism and faith. 

'' Yesterday an old man of world-wide fame cel- 
ebrated his eighty-fifth birthday. He had been the 
ruler of the British Empire — he is a private citizen. 
Among the utterances which he deemed appropriate, 
in reply to the congratulations which came to him 
from every land, was an indignant protest against 
the outrages against the Armenian Christians, and a 
demand upon the Christian people of the earth to 
compel their governments to call upon Turkey for a 
halt. 

" This warning and appeal from the lips of Mr. 
Gladstone was flashed across continents and under 
oceans; it penetrated cabinets, it thundered in the 
ears of sovereigns, and through the great journals it 
thrilled every household and every church of every 
race and of every tongue, 

" To-morrow — aye, to-day — Rosebery is con- 
sulting with the French Premier, and France and Eng- 
land are speaking to the Emperor of Germany, and 
the young Czar and the King of Italy, and the Em- 
peror of Austria for united action, which will 
bring the Turk to mercy, peace, and liberty for the 
Armenian Christian without destroying the equili- 
brium of Europe. 

" We seek no foreign alliances, we court no inter- 
national complications, but we claim the right under 
the Fatherhood of God to demand for our brother and 
our sister in the distant East, law, justice, and the 
exercise of conscience." 

Dr. Greer then read resolutions expressing sympa- 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 213 

thy for the Armenians, and protesting against further 
outrages. The document closes as follows: 

" Resolved, That we hereby extend our deepest sympathy 
to the Armenian people who, for their Christian faith, have 
repeatedly suffered unspeakable cruelties from their Turkish 
rulers and Kurdish neighbors; 

" Resolved, That we hereby express to our Christian 
brethren in England and on the continent, who are en- 
deavoring to investigate these outrages and to bring the 
perpetrators of them to justice, our hearty good-will and 
godspeed. We hope and believe that they will not pause 
until the extent of these atrocities is clearly ascertained 
and the responsibility for them finally fixed; 

" Resolved, That in their efforts to provide against the re- 
currence of similar acts of oppression in the future, they 
shall receive our hearty and unwavering moral support; 

" Resolved, That we earnestly call upon our Christian 
fellow-citizens everywhere throughout the country to organ- 
ize and express an indignant and universal protest against 
the continuance of a state of affairs under which it is 
possible for women and children to be murdered simply be- 
cause they are Christians." 

The resolutions were adopted by a rising vote, 
and the Rev. Dr. Tiffany, Archdeacon of ^ew York, 
pronounced the benediction. 

Very many such mass meetings were held in dif- 
ferent cities of the United States. The U. S. Senate 
discussed the question and made similar resolutions. 
Mr. Call submitted the following as a substitute for 
the committee resolutions: 

*' 'That humanity and religion, and theprinciples on which 
all civilization rests, demand that the civilized governments 
shall, by peaceful negotiations, or, if necessary, by force of 
arms, prevent and suppress the cruelties and massacres in- 
flicted on the Armenian subjects of Turkey, by the establish- 
ment of a government of their own people, with such guaran- 
tees by the civilized powers of its authority and permanence 
as shall be adequate to that end.' " 

All these resolutions, both of the people and the 
Senate, went to President Cleveland, but he has not 
seen fit to act on them. It would be absurd to impute 
this to weakness or unwillingness to decide a new ques- 



214 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

tion: Mr. Cleveland, whatever his limitations, has 
never lacked firmness or decision. Doubtless it is be- 
cause he thinks this country ought not to break away 
from its old traditions and involve itself with Euro- 
pean concerns. But this is not a European concern; 
it is European, Asiatic, American, the world's; the 
concern of all humanity, not to say Christianity. 

It concerns the lives and result of sixty years' 
work of American missionaries; the government can- 
not wash its hands of all concern or responsibility for 
them, and alone of all great powers declare that its 
Christian citizens may not spread Christianity. And 
a great and rich nation has no more right to go off 
with its hands in its pockets, and declare that it has 
no obligation to the well-being of the world, than a 
great, rich man has a right to declare that he has no 
obligation to society. The rich man only keeps his 
money because there is a civilized society with laws 
and policemen to protect him in it; this nation only 
keeps at peace because other nations' civilization and 
international law prevent a great combination to plun- 
der it. It ought to accept its share of the general 
social duty — man the fire pumps, and do police work 
if needed; and not let a thug murder one of its com- 
panions — nay, relatives — before its eyes. It is 
bound as a Christian state not to let a bloody and 
sensual Mohammedan barbarism extinguish the light 
of a sister Christian community; it is bound as a na- 
tion of civilized beings not to let a horde of savages 
like its own Indians stamp out a civilized nation mil- 



THE GREAT POWERS AND ARMENIA. 215 

lions in number by horrors unspeakable, every atroc- 
ity of butchery, and rape, and torture that ever sprung 
from the cruelty or the lust of man. These things 
are as awful, as hideous to the Armenians as they 
would be to you if fifty thousand Indians overflowed 
Colorado and inflicted them on your American fam- 
ilies. What would you feel and do if most of that 
State were turned into a burnt desolation, with here 
and there a cabin standing, Denver half obliterated 
and ten thousand of its inhabitants slaughtered in 
cold blood, hundreds impaled, or burnt, or flayed 
alive, the sistex's and daughters of your own house- 
holds by thousands violated over and over, thousands 
made slaves and concubines in the wigwams of dirty 
Indian brutes, and others wandering as naked beggars 
in the wintry snows about the ruins of their once happy 
homes ? Yet this is a picture of what happened over 
part of Armenia; can you think it is of no concern to 
you ? Ought Congress and the President to think it 
of no concern to them ? Surely there are some things 
where national lines ought not to count. 

Mr. Cleveland has been unfortunate in his advisers, 
partly chosen by himself, and partly inherited. Min- 
ister Terrill has taken the word of the Sultan and the 
palace clique, and made no attempt to investigate for 
himself; consequently he is full of respect for the 
Mohammedans, and scorn for the Armenians. Ad- 
miral Kirtland visited a few seaports, found the Ar- 
menians there working as usual (of course — the mas- 
sacres were carried on where news could be inter- 



216 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

cepted and suppressed by the Turks), and reports that 
lie didn't find any evidence of outrages or disorders, 
and considers the stories false, or much exaggerated. 
And such lazy or prejudiced negatives as these are 
to be counted as outweighing the sworn official re- 
ports of consuls on the spot, and of pitiful letters from 
the survivors among the very victims themselves ! 

I have said that Mr. Cleveland does not lack firm- 
ness. He does not in internal policy, but he cer- 
tainly did not show enough in the matter of these 
atrocities. The Sultan asked him to nominate a com- 
missioner to join those of other powers in inves- 
tigating the Sassoun massacres. He appointed Milo 
A. Jewett, consul at Sivas; but Mr. Jewett was much 
too keen and forcible a man for the Sultan, who re- 
fused to let him take his place on the commission. Mr. 
Cleveland did not insist, as he ought. The very fact 
that the Sultan did not want it, was the best of reasons 
for persisting. 

Again, last year, the Senate voted to send two 
more consuls to Armenia; Mr. Cleveland appointed 
Messrs. Chilton and Hunter to go to Erzeroum and 
Harpoot respectively, but the Sultan refused to accept 
them, and they had to come back. To consent to this 
was wrong and weak; the American government 
should firmly declare its right to protect its own in- 
terests in its own way. 

But the President will act if the American people 
will stand at his back. When will they send forth 
a mandate that these horrors must stop ? 



\ 




ClU«;A88iAXS. 




GEOllOlANa 



VI. 

THE CAUSES OF THE ATKOCITIES. 

THE GREAT QUESTION. 

The Armenian atrocities can never be fully under- 
stood by those who may be born in a free land, where 
there are no Turks, no Kurds, no Circassians, no Geor- 
gians, no Zeibecks, and no Mohammedan religion, with 
its oppressions and persecutions. 

Why the Sultan orders the Turks, Kurds, or other 
followers to destroy the Armenians, whereby more 
than 100,000 of them have recently been killed, and 
500,000 been rendered homeless and left to die of star- 
vation in the streets and fields, or why the Sultan 
ordered all who are spared to accept the Mohammedan 
religion, is never referred to with any sort of correct- 
ness by the newspapers or periodicals in their accounts 
of the dreadful atrocities taking place in Armenia, and 
therefore the people are left in ignorance and doubt 
respecting the true situation both as to the causes and 
the atrocities themselves. 

FIRST CAUSE. 

The first cause is a very simple one. That the Ar- 
menians are Christians, and the Turks, Kurds, Circas- 
sians, and Georgians in Turkey are Mohammedans, 

and the Mohammedan religion urges brutality. It 

(217) 



218 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

has already been sliown to be not a religion, but a 
system of falsehood, hatred, cruelty, lust, and sensual- 
ity; of course, these things combined can only result 
in corruption. It would seem that Mohammed must 
have taken his inspiration from both the domestic fowl 
and a bull. A rooster is a polygamist; he has his hens 
without limit. So Mohammed, the professed prophet, 
had wives without limit. He claimed to have received 
a revelation from Heaven directing him to take to him- 
self any woman he pleased, no matter whether she was 
married and had a husband or not; that made no dif- 
ference with Mohammed. He took any woman he 
wanted, and if her husband objected he was sure to 
be put to death. Mohammedans cannot differ from 
their prophet, they follow him, they strive to imitate 
him just as much as true Christians strive to follow 
and imitate Christ. Further, cocks, as a rule, have 
crowing spells five times in twenty-four hours, and gen- 
erally mount a high place and do their screaming there. 
So the Mohammedan priests, who are called Moezzins, 
ascend a minaret, or a tow^er, and five times in twenty 
four hours they call the people to worship. There 
is so little confidence placed in the priests or criers 
that the people prefer to have a blind one go on the 
minaret to give the calls, so that he may not see their 
women unveiled in their houses. 

From a bull, because he is not onty immoderately 
lustful, but fierce and destructive; and the farmers 
say that the older he grows, the Avorse he is in both re- 
spects. It is certainly so with Mohammedans^, — 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 219 

naturally enough, for nothing is so lickerish as an old 
man who has been sensual all his life, and cruelty is a 
trait which grows wdth indulgence. The Sultan grows 
more of a beast, and more of a fiend as he grows older, 
and all the Mohammedans are of the same stripe. 
Armenian men and Armenian women alike dread the 
approach of an old Turk far more than of a young 
one. Unless one has witnessed a fight between bulls, 
he can have little idea of Turkish warfare. No animal 
fight can approach it in ferocity or insatiability; when 
a bull conquers another, he never leaves him until he 
gores him to death. So when Mohammedans conquer 
a nation, be sure they will exterminate it. To them 
mercy means apostasy; to leave a man alive or a woman 
unravished is to be false to the precepts of Mohammed. 
They cannot help it, it is their religion; a religion 
for wild animals. Their priests go to the mosques and 
preach to them thus: " Believers in Mohammed, love 
your fellow believers, but hate and kill all others ; they 
are Giaours, heathen dogs, filthy hogs.'^ To kill a 
Christian and to kill a hog is all the same to a Moham- 
medan; there is as little sin in one as the other. The 
priests say, " Ask them to accept our religion; if they 
do, you must not harm them ; but if they will not, kill 
them, for they have no right to live in a Mohammedan 
country. It is not only no sin, but a great virtue; the 
more Christians you kill, the greater reward you will 
have from Allah and his prophet Mohammed.'' The 
Turks are slaughtering the Armenians to earn this re- 
ward. Of course if the men apostatize they are 



220 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

spared; but the Turk has no notion of losing the grat- 
ification of his lust on the women in that way. A 
woman who falls into their hands need not hope to 
keep her virtue on any terms, even by abjuring her 
religion ; they violate her first, and force her to become 
a Mohammedan afterwards. 

Let it be fully understood throughout the Chris- 
tian world that the massacre is a religious demand; 
the Turks have to comply. As a Christian tries to be 
faithful to Christ and his teachings, so the Turks are 
trying to be faithful to their prophet and his. They 
go to the mosques and pray, " Allah, help us; 
strengthen our hands and sharpen our swords to kill 
the infidel Armenians." Then they come from the 
mosques and begin to kill, and plunder, and outrage, 
and commit every sort of indescribable atrocities on the 
peaceable and defenseless Armenians. And it will 
grow worse instead of better, since so-called Christian 
nations have given the Sultan public notice that they 
will not interfere wdtli him. Do not be deceived by 
his lying reports; there was no Armenian rebellion; 
they could not rebel ; they did not kill the Turks, they 
never dreamed of such madness. This awful fate has 
fallen on them purely and simply for being Christians. 

SECOND CAUSE. 

This seems frivolous and incredible, but it is true; 
namely, a dream of the Sultan. 

Some six years ago, a report was circulated in Con- 
stantinople about this dream. It was, that in his sleep 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 221 

the Sultan saw a little tree planted in the center of 
his kingdom. It began to grow larger and larger, 
till it covered the whole Turkish Empire, and over- 
shadowed even the mountains. All the nations of 
Turkey dwelt under its glorious and majestic shade. 
Still it grew, till the branches crossed the oceans and 
covered all the other kingdoms, finally the wdiole 
world. He woke, but the dream troubled him deeply, 
and he called some of the ulemas or wise men, of whom 
he always has a number in his palace, to interpret it 
for him. They explained it by saying that the tree 
was Christianity; Christian missionary work in the 
heart of his empire. It was a menace to his throne 
and country, and would grow till it covered the world. 
The Sultan, alarmed and angry, asked what he should 
do. The ulemas advised him to cut it down while it 
was small, and he has been doing his best to follow 
their advice. He did not dare to kill the missionaries, 
but he is accomplishing the same result by destroying 
their churches and schools and forbidding any more 
to be built, confiscating all religious books, and killing 
the native Christian ministers. He has employed 
every device to force the missionaries to depart by 
paralyzing their work; if they chose to stay, he would 
accuse them of inciting the natives to revolt. He has 
succeeded so far; plunder, burning, torture, murder, 
violation and forced conversion of Christian women, 
have practically put an end to missionary work. Now 
the time has come to kill the missionaries; and he will 
very likely find some excuse for doing it — he has 



222 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

an arsenal of falsehoods always at his command. 
Quite likely he will say the Armenians killed them, and 
then murder more Armenians in reprisal. His cun- 
ning is as infinite as his cruelty. He gives a charter 
to a missionary institution and destroys ten others. He 
invites Minister Terrell to the palace, gives him grand 
receptions, and loads him w^ith promises and flatteries, 
and all the time goes on obliterating the schools and 
churches and killing the native pastors. He creates 
a ruin; when the European powers protest, he says he 
will make amends, and he does it by perpetrating a 
greater one, in which the first is forgotten. He mas- 
sacres hundreds in a city ; when the powers protest, he 
says he will restore order, and does it by ordering thou- 
sands killed in another city, and the first is again for- 
gotten. His atrocities increase as he finds that he 
is to be unmolested; he is resolute to cut down that 
spreading tree, and has already cut thousands of 
branches from it. And the Christian nations look on 
and say they cannot help it. They know perfectly 
well Avhat is going on, but their ^' interests " of one 
sort or another will not permit them to remove that 
awful blot on civilization. 

THIRD CAUSE. 

The Mohammedan population in Turkey is decreas- 
ing, and the Christians are increasing. When the 
present Sultan captured the throne from his brother 
Murad, Turkey had 40,000,000 people; as soon as he 
girded the sword of Osman, he began the great battle 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 223 

with Kussia, and after the Turko-Russian war he found 
hmiself with 18,000,000. Who are the lost ? Rou- 
mania, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herze- 
govina, a part of Macedonia, Cyprus, and a part of 
Armenia. Practically the whole of Europe was lost 
for Turkey except Constantinople and the district 
Edirne or Adrianople. Turkey is not an empire any 
more, but it is a little kingdom; rather a little feudal 
system, or more accurately still, a little anarchy. If 
it were not for mutual European jealousy, the Sultan 
could not keep his anarchism. Yet many still think 
that the Ottoman Empire is a great one, a pow^erful 
government. They look at the Sultan and his domin- 
ion through a magnifying glass. This shows ignor- 
ance. The Turks are decayed and are decaying. The 
sick man of Turkey is the dead man of Turkey, and 
ought to be buried, but the European powers do not 
bury him because there are precious stones and jewelry 
in the coffin; no matter how bad the corpse smells, 
they will endure it. And the bad smell of the Sultan 
is killing hundreds of thousands of Christians ; but the 
dead stays where it is, and may stay for some years, 
but the end will come before many have gone by. 
When I say that the days of the Sultan are numbered, 
and the brutal Turkish mis-rule will cease, many Amer- 
icans will rejoin ^^that the same has often been said long 
years since, though the empire remains to-day, and 
seems likely to remain." The fact is, however, that 
during my own life more than half of it has gone to 
pieces, and the fragment which remains Avill go to 



224 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

pieces soon. Permit me to say tliat all former proph- 
ecies have been mistaken because those who made 
them have judged and misjudged the situation from 
an occidental standpoint; I judge it from that of a 
native, who knows the realities as only a native can. 
What, can an English ambassador or an American min- 
ister in Constantinople, staying perhaps two or three 
years, and entertained and decorated by the crafty 
Sultan, know about the internal state of Turkey ? 
Having traveled through the country, lived and 
preached for years at a time; preached in different 
cities, including Constantinople, I can see signs of a 
break-up that a foreigner would not notice. 

The reason the Turkish population does not in- 
crease is this: The army has to be made up of Mo- 
hammedans, partly because the Sultan does not put 
arms into the hands of the Christians, for obvious rea- 
sons, since they have no motive to uphold and every 
motive to fight him, and partly because to be a soldier 
in Turkey is a holy service, the privilege of Mohamme- 
dans alone. As there is a large standing army, nearly 
all the Mohammedan youths have to become soldiers. 
Their service begins when they are about twenty years 
old. The shortest term is five years; for many it is 
ten; and even after that, there are many who cannot 
escape. If a young Mohammedan is not married at 
twenty, obviously he cannot marry until twenty-five 
anyway, and perhaps thirty, — very late for a country 
population; if he is married his wife is virtually a 
widow for five to ten years. Now the reader can 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 225 

see mj drift. With marriages so late, and husbands 
so long absent, Turkish families are small; they do 
not make good the deaths. And there is a still plainer 
cause: The soldiers being very poorly fed, and con- 
stant fighting going on, ninety per cent, die in the 
army, and so never have any families; the flower of 
the nation perishes barren. Those who survive and 
return are pale and sick, good for nothing, a burden 
to their families and to the nation. The Armenians 
have to support the Sultan's army, since they do not 
furnish it, but they rear families, and are drowning 
out the Turks. 

Another cause of decrease is the pilgrimage to 
Mecca, where Mohammed was born. On an average, 
a million pilgrims go there every year, — of course not 
all from Turkey, but most of them, and every year 
about 50,000 of them die of cholera before reaching 
home, from the Holy Well (Zemzem sooyi), which is 
full of unholy foulness ; even those who live and return 
home take that water to their families, and many of 
the latter die too. Cholera is perpetual in Turkey, and 
it originates at Mecca. When I was in Marsovan 
twelve at one time went on the pilgrimage and only 
four returned. It is a great virtue to die where Mo- 
hammed was born, or to drink that water and die, 
and they are going to him at a rapid rate. Last year, 
when the English, Russian, and French consuls at 
Jiddeh, the seaport of Mecca, established a quarantine 
to detain those coming from Mecca and bringing 
cholera, they were murdered by the Mohammedan 



226 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Arabs, wlio said they were interfering with the 
sacred religion, and the Sultan had to pay the in- 
demnity. 

Still another reason is the shocking increase of 
abortions among the wealthy town dwellers. The 
Mohammedan women are growing to love selfish in- 
dulgences better than the duties and delights of 
motherhood. They do not wish to be '^ bothered " by 
children, and they take medicine to prevent having 
them. Where the women come to this, it is better for 
a race to die out; they have outlived their purpose. 

A fourth cause is polygamy. People naturally 
think that marrying more than one wife should increase 
the number of children; but the facts emphatically 
prove the reverse. The polygamous Turks do not in- 
crease as fast as the Christians who have but one wife. 

For the fifth, the Turks are an exceedingly sensual 
race, by nature and education, as I have shown. The 
very religion that should help to make them pure, helps 
to make them vile. Lust leads them, and they follow ; 
nature prompts, and their religion requires it. I am 
tt'uly ashamed to tell it, but even when they go to their 
mosques to worship, they manifest their sensuality. 
'Not only the relations of male and female are very 
rank, but between male and male they are worse; be- 
tween the old Turks and young Turks, the very boys, 
the relations are too disgusting to describe. All such 
moral corruptions not only weaken a people's forces 
morally, but physically as well ; they substitute barren 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 227 

lusts for legitimate gratifications, selfish passions for 
mutual ones. 

Hence the Mohammedans are fast decreasing in 
Turkey, and the Sultan is terrified, and hopes by kill- 
ing a large part of the Christians, and forcing the sur- 
vivors to accept Mohammedanism, that their power 
of multiplication may be the boon of a Mohammedan 
people. Out of the 18,000,000 inhabitants of Tur- 
key, 6,000,000 are native Christians, about half of 
them Armenians. This leaves only 12,000,000 for 
the whole Mohammedan population in the present 
Turkish dominion; and it grows less, wdiile the Chris- 
tian part grows greater. To check this increase, the 
Sultan a few years ago made the obtaining of a mar- 
riage certificate compulsory, and the Turkish authori- 
ties have understood that they are to make it as hard as 
possible to get; it has cost great sums of money to ob- 
tain it. But for many months now, there have been 
no marriages at all in Armenia ; the authorities will not 
grant certificates on any terms, and to prevent any 
more Christians being born, the daughters and young 
brides of the murdered thousands are made mothers 
through violation by the Turks and Kurds. 

The Christians have been increasing not only from 
within, but from without. Europeans have begun to 
go wherever railroads go. Hence another reason for 
massacre and forced conversion. That the Sultan has 
been planning this massacre ever since the Turko-Rus- 
sian war is evidenced by the fact that after the war he 
encouraged or ordered a number of Mohamme- 



228 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

dan tribes — Circassians, Georgians, Kurds, and 
Lazes — to emigrate from Russia to Armenia, con- 
fiscated masses of Christians' property, and gave 
it to them, and directed them to reduce the 
number of Armenian Christians by any way they 
saw fit, giving them full license to do what 
they would with Armenians, without penalty. You 
know what that means with fierce tribes of human wild 
animals, cruel and foul, and he knew what it meant 
too, and intended it to mean that. Before his time 
the Christians far outnumbered the Mohammedans in 
Armenia proper; but under his ^' government " — his 
deliberate policy of extermination — great numbers 
fled the country, numbers were killed and their women 
made concubines to Mohammedans, and now the Mo- 
hammedans are more numerous in Armenia than the 
Armenian Christians. And if the Sultan is permitted 
to go on, he will kill a million more, the rest will be 
^' converted," and then he will call the attention of 
the European powers to this fact, and say, ^' See here, 
you ask me to reform Armenia ; Armenia is reformed. 
There is no Armenia; there are no Armenians; the 
people in that part of my empire are Mohammedans, 
and they are satisfied with my government. What do 
you want from me ? What right have you to inter- 
fere with my country and religion ? " That is his 
plan. When the Berlin Congress was held, the Ar- 
menians v/ere the majority in their own country, and 
the Congress decided on reforms for it; the Sultan 
promised them, with the full intention of depopulating 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 220 

and converting it, and then telling tlie powers there 
was no need of reform there. He is doing this now 
incessantly, and as remorselessly as a fiend. 

FOURTH CAUSE. 

The Armenians are rich and educated, and the 
Mohammedans are poor and ignorant. The Turks 
have never cared for money or education. They have 
always said, '' Let the Christians make the money, 
and we will take it from them whenever we choose. 
We will be the rulers, the soldiers, the police ; we will 
have the sword in our hands. Then their property, 
and their women too, will be ours at will, and we can 
force them to become Mohammedans." Such being 
their reasoning, they took good care of their swords 
and their guns, which were furnished to them from 
Europe and the United States. The Christian Ar- 
menians believing that the great Christian powers 
would never permit the Turks to wreak their murder- 
ous and shameful will on them, did not risk the ven- 
geance of the Turks by secretly buying weapons, nor 
train themselves in the use of arms. They trained 
their minds, got education, traveled in Europe and 
this United States, enlightened themselves in every 
way they could ; they sharpened their intellects rather 
than their swords. They learned to make money also ; 
they established all the business houses in Turkey; 
all the Turks that get employment in the cities get it 
from the Armenian merchants. As far as Turkey has 
any finances, they are in the hands of Armenians. Go 



230 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

where you will in Turkey, seaboard or interior, all tlie 
money and education belong to the Armenians, pov- 
erty and ignorance are the portion of the Turks. 
IsTinety per cent, of the Armenians know how to read 
and write, while ninety per cent, of the Turks do not. 
Sixty per cent, of the Mohammedan property has 
been sold to the Christian Armenians within twenty 
years. When I was in Armenia, the Mohammedans 
were ahvays selling and the Christians always buying. 
One day a Turk was going to sell his field to an Armen- 
ian, and they wxnt to the government office to make 
the transfer. The officer in charge said he could not 
transfer the property of a Mohammedan to a Chris- 
tian. This was something new. ^^ Why is that ? " 
they asked. " The governor forbids it,'' said the of- 
ficer, ^' he told me that hereafter it should not be 
done." Finally both went to the governor and asked 
him why he forbade it. The governor replied, ^' Of 
late the Armenians have bought up the fields of the 
Mohammedans, till they own the greater part of them; 
if we let them go on they will own everything, and the 
Mohammedans will be left without property. There- 
fore I forbid it; no Mohammedan shall hereafter sell 
any property to a Christian." He told the Turk he 
might sell his field to another Mohammedan, but not 
to a Christian. '' All right," said the Turk, " I will 
sell it to you, then, at the same price, or maybe a little 
less; will you buy it ? I need the money to support 
my family." " I cannot buy it," said the governor; "I 
have no money." " I know that," replied the Turk; 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 231 

" and not only you, but all the other Mohammedans 
have no money either. They are all poor. I cannot 
find any Turk who has the money to buy my field, and 
I need money, and I have to sell it to that Christian.'' 
Finally the governor was forced to give the permission, 
and the Armenian bought the field. This is only one 
case, but it is typical. There are thousands of just 
such. And this is another cause which aroused the 
jealousy of the Sultan and his subordinates to order 
the massacre of the Armenians, and the seizure of 
their property. 

I often hear it said in this country, " Let us help 
the poor Armenians " ; and I feel very indignant. 
Poor Armenians ! There are poor among the Ar- 
menians, as among all nations; but the Armenians as 
a body are not poor. They are the richest people in 
Turkey. That is one reason why they are plundered 
and killed. I do not want the American people to 
help the Armenians as a poor, ignorant, miserable peo- 
ple, but because they deserve help as a rich, noble, 
Christian nation being rooted out by plunder and 
murder, for the benefit of, and by means of a horde of 
savages. I will illustrate by a very little story. 

When Alexander the Great reached the moun- 
tains of Afghanistan on his way to India, the Afghan 
king refused to let him pass through his country. 
After a great battle, and the slaughter of thousands 
on both sides, Alexander was victorious. The king 
himself was captured, and brought before Alexander, 
who said to him, ^' You are my captive; how shall I 



232 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

treat jou ? " " As a king," said tlie prisoner. Alex- 
ander was charmed with the dignity of the answer, and 
replied, " You shall be treated as one, and a brave one. 
I leave you on your throne ; but permit me to pass on 
to India." So the king kept his royalty as before, 
and Alexander continued his conquests. 

Such is the Armenian question. They are a noble 
people, an enterprising people, but captives in the 
hands of the Turks. But the Turks have not the mag- 
nanimity of Alexander. We need a nation which does 
have it, to say to the Armenians, " Remain where you 
are, in your ancient home, and rule there; govern 
yourselves freely as a Christian nation. You have 
fought centuries after centuries for home and honor, 
and now we come to your help, to establish you on the 
old Armenian throne." Do not help the Armenians 
merely as a poor people, but help them because they 
were rich, and now they are stripped and poor, with- 
out fault of their own, from hate of their (and your) 
religion, and envy of their superiority. 

FIFTH CAUSE. 

This is perhaps the greatest of all. It is the Amer- 
ican missionary work in Armenia. It was in 1831 
that the American Board of Foreign Missions estab- 
lished the first Protestant mission there. Their pur- 
pose was to send missionaries, not simply to the Ar- 
menians, but to all classes and sects in Turkey. Those 
pioneer American missionaries were among the noblest 
of men, and greatest of teachers, preachers, and or- 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 233 

ganizers. I will name a few: Dr. Goodell, Dr. 
Dwight, Dr. Scliaffler, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, founder 
of Robert College, living now at Lexington, Mass., 86 
years old, one of the greatest missionaries ever born, 
Dr. H. Van Lennep, another great missionary, greatly 
beloved by the Armenians. Books could be written 
about these Christian chiefs, towhom, and to the Amer- 
ican people who sent them, we Armenians are grate- 
ful. When Dr. Van Lennep died at Great Barring- 
ton, Mass., about six years ago, the author was raising- 
money here to build a church in Armenia, as already 
told. He went to condole with Mrs. Van Lennep, 
and told her not to put any monument over the doctor's 
grave. He would see the other Armenians, and as a 
grateful people they would erect him a beautiful one. 
He kept his word, and his faith was justified; they 
raised the funds and put up the monument. It 
stands in the cemetery at Great Barrington, with the 
following inscription : — 

Henry John Van Lennep, D.D. 

1815 — 1889. 

For Thirty Years Missionary in Turkey. 

This monument is erected by his Armenian friends in grate- 
ful appreciation of his heroic virtues, and endearing services 
rendered to their people. 

The beloved Missionary 

Van Lennep. 

When the noble missionaries went to Turkey, the 
Turks hated them, the Jews hated them, the Greeks 
hated them, and these three peoples hate them still. 



234 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

But tlie Armenians welcomed them; they loved and 
esteemed them, and they love and esteem them more 
than ever now. The question is often asked " Are 
not the Armenians a Christian people ? Then why 
did the missionaries go there ? '' Yes, they are; but 
still they needed the missionaries, and need them now 
more than ever. Why ? Well, for two reasons. 
Their churches and schools having been destroyed by 
the long oppression by the Turks, they needed help 
from a sister Christian church to help them educate 
themselves, and build up churches, schools, and col- 
leges, benevolent institutions, printing offices. The 
missionaries have done that great work in Armenia, 
but I am sorry to say that some of their creations have 
been destroyed by the Turks during the recent atroci- 
ties. 

The second reason is that the Armenian church 
stood in great need of reformation. I have already 
explained in this book (see " The Armenian Church ") 
how in the last desperate struggle for national exis- 
tence, a part of the people reluctantly accepted help 
from the Pope of Rome, at the price of uniting with 
the Roman church, and using its rituals, images, etc. 
Hence, in many of the Armenian churches there was 
no pure gospel preaching ; rituals were the leading ele- 
ment of the services. There was therefore great need 
that such preaching should be introduced ; the mission- 
aries did so, and the Armenian church has been greatly 
reformed. My purpose here is not to write a church 
history, nor to give an account of missionary work in 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 235 

Turkey. I mention it incidentally as a chief cause of 
the atrocities. 

The missionaries have trained both boys and girls 
in their schools for sixty-five years now; many thou- 
sands of them. The Turks have not been permitted 
to go to them, the Greeks are too proud to send their 
children, but the Armenians were hungry for educa- 
tion, especially for an xlmerican education. The 
new-born baby of the time when the missionaries ar- 
rived is now sixty-five years old, with his American 
.education, which has wonderfully elevated the Ar- 
menians, and turned Armenia almost into a second 
America, educationally. The American colleges in 
different parts of Turkey are great centers of light; 
about ninety per cent, of the students and the leading 
native professors and teachers are Armenians. I will 
mention a few: Robert College and the Woman's 
College in Constantinople; the Ladies' Seminary in 
Smyrnia; Anatolia College, the Ladies' Seminary, 
and the Theological Seminary in Marsovan; the 
writer's pastorate, Central Turkey College and the 
Ladies' College at Aintab, Euphrates College (first 
called Armenia College, but the name is forbidden by 
the Turks, as encouraging Armenian independence) 
and the Ladies' Department at Harpoot ; the Academy 
and the Theological Seminary at Marash, where I 
studied three years; the colleges both for girls and 
boys at Beirut; and many high schools and primary 
schools throughout Armenia. The American Bible 
House i(; a great depot of Christian literature. These 



236 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

are all American Christian institutions, and nine-tentlis 
of tlieir inmates are Armenians. 

The reader can clearly see how the Armenians 
have become a wholly new race ; they have had the ad- 
vantage of American education, and it has revolution- 
ized the nation. It has elevated, refined, and pros- 
pered them. This great improvement among the Ar- 
menians aroused the jealousy of the Sultan and his 
underlings. He first began to close the schools; then 
to imprison the native Armenian teachers and preach- 
ers; then to kill the Armenians and destroy the mission-* 
ary institutions, that no Armenian may be left to go 
to any American school, and that if any escapes, there 
may be no American school to receive him. I con- 
sider this missionary education the very greatest cause 
for the atrocities, and the Armenian bishops agree 
with me. Here is what the Armenian bishop of Oorf a 
(Edessa), where about 8,000 Armenians we^e mas- 
sacred, has to say : 

TO THE AMERICANS. 

"March 12, 1896. 

" We have been strenuously opposed to your mis- 
sion work among us, but these bloody days have proven 
that some of our Protestant brothers have been staunch 
defenders of our honor and faith. You at least know 
that our crime, in the eyes of the Turk, has been that 
we have adopted the civilization you commended. 
Behold the missions and schools which you planted 
among us, and which cost millions of dollars, and hun- 
dreds of precious lives, now in ruins. The Turk ia 



THE CAUSES OF THE ATROCITIES. 237 

planning to rid himself of missionaries and teachers by 
leaving them nobody to labor among." 

It is very significant that wherever there was a mis- 
sionary institution, and especially a missionary Theo- 
logical Seminary to train Armenian ministers, there 
has been the greatest atrocity. This shows how the 
Sultan hates Americans, and American education. 
There are nearly two hundred American male and fe- 
male missionaries in Turkey. They are in great dan- 
ger. The Turks have determined to kill them, and 
the Sultan can no longer control them, for he gave the 
order and put the sword into their hands. The Kurds 
and the Turks say, " The missionaries have better 
things than the Armenians had. We killed the Ar- 
menians and got their valuables, and we enjoy them. 
We are richer now, and we did not work for it ; w^e did 
not waste time in hard labor; the only thing we had to 
do was to obey the Sultan and kill the Armenians and 
get their property. Why not kill the Americans and 
get richer ? " Reader, keep in your mind that the 
Turks will kill the missionaries also. The horrible 
time is coming, in spite of what your minister to Tur- 
key says, and partly because he believes Turkish lies, 
and says there was no need of sending missionaries 
there. 

Another point worthy of consideration is this: 
Russia and Turkey made an alliance. Russia is as 
much opposed to the missionaries as Turkey is, and per- 
haps the Czar is secretly encouraging the Sultan to get 
rid of them. Undoubtedly Russia is trying to get rid 



238 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

of Protestant influence in Turkey, and therefore sac- 
rifices the old Protestant Armenian nation to Turkey. 
In my beUef, the time is coining when the Protestant 
nations will unite and protest practically against the 
outrages of Turkey and Russia. They have no right 
to persecute Turks or Russians, but they have a perfect 
right to protect an old Protestant church and the 
American missionaries. No matter how much it costs, 
it pays to protect them, and, pay or no pay, it is the 
duty of America and England to unite and protect 
them. And if England and America should really 
unite, Turkey and Russia will yield. I do not at 
all concur with Americans who favor Russia and hate 
England. Lord Salisbury is too timid to do it, but 
Lord Salisbury is not England. The English people 
are a noble people, and if the American noble people 
unite with them, they can accomplish a great work 
for God and humanity, for peace and liberty, for free- 
dom and happiness in Armenia. 

As far as I can judge, the foregoing are the causes 
of the atrocities in Armenia. Perhaps there may be 
other minor ones, but they are not worthy of discus- 
sion. 




■f- Kf'llIM 'HI BFS- 



KCKfJ WOMAN. 



THE TUKKISH ATROCITIES IN^ ARMENIA. 

THE BEGINNING. 

Turkish atrocities in Armenia are no new thing; 
they have gone on for centuries, and left but a fraction 
of the population it once had. But let us disregard 
old history, and come to the subject of to-day. Prac- 
tically that begins with Hamid II, the present Sultan. 
He began his persecutions nearly twenty years ago, but 
on a small scale. He has continually devised new meth- 
ods of getting rid of the Armenians without responsi- 
bility; finally he hit on the plan of arming the Kurds 
and letting them loose with full power to do their 
worst. When I was in Constantinople he summoned 
the Kurdish chiefs, hundreds of them — I have seen 
them with my own eyes — entertained them in the 
palace, armed them with modern rifles, and sent them 
to Armenia on their mission. The pretense under 
which he did it was worthy of him: he called them 
the " Hamidieh Cavalry," and pretended that they 
, were a sort of mounted police, who were to keep order 
and protect the Armenians. This was exactly as 
though a regiment of red Indians should be armed and 
sent to Oregon to protect the inhabitants, and called, 
say, the Presidential Guard, and the Armenians knew 

well what they were for. But the European travel- 

(239) 



240 AKMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ers and newspaper correspondents took it all seriously, 
and talked of his '^ civilizing the Kurds," etc. E^ow 
these were only the chiefs; each chief had a large fol- 
lowing of tribesmen, so that about 30,000 Kurds in 
all Avere given arms and ordered to go to work extermi- 
nating the Armenians. This work began in 1891, but 
on a small scale, and in a very crafty way, so that it 
should not have the appearance of a premeditated 
massacre ; then it was stopped till about sixteen months 
ago, when they were encouraged to begin again, pub- 
licly, and with full swing. It was decided to begin 
in Sassoun, a district far from the sea, with no roads 
and a sparse population ; if successful in escaping report 
there, he could carry out the massacre through all 
Armenia, for which " reforms " were asked and prom- 
ished. He ordered Zekii Pasha to have his soldiers 
ready, and meantime to have the " Hamidieh Cav- 
alry " the Kurdish chiefs and tribesmen, ready to at- 
tack and kill all the Armenians in Sassoun. This 
city lies between Moosh and Bitlis, in a mountainous 
country, and the Sassounites are a brave people, as 
much so as the Zeitoonlis are. The district had about 
sixty villages and towns, and about 20,000 people 
sixteen months ago, but it has none now. The regular 
soldiers and the armed Kurds surrounded the dis- 
trict from all sides, and in about a month had slaugh- 
tered the entire population. Tt was reported that 
Zekii Pasha carried on his breast an order from the 
Sultan as follows: ^^ Whoever spares man, woman, 
or child is disloyal." After he had finished his task. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 241 

he received great rewards from the Sultan, and is now 
one of his most esteemed commanders. 

Zekii Pasha is said to have had 40,000 Kurds and 
regular soldiers under his command when he began 
the massacre. The people of Sassoun, knowing that 
they were doomed, fought desperately^ They re- 
pulsed the Kurds several times, and killed many of 
them; but finally the regular soldiers took part, pre- 
tending to come in aid of the Armenians, and overbore 
them, killing all without quarter. The Sultan's order 
was to spare neither man, woman, nor child; but as 
the men met the enemy first, they were killed first. 
When the women's turn came, the Turks and Kurds 
abused all they could get hold of, and then told them 
that if they would deny Christ and accept Mohammed 
and become their wives, they should live; but if they 
refused, every one of them, according to the Sultan's 
order, should be killed. ^' ^ow," said they, " choose 
between Islam and death." These noble Armenian 
Christian women said: — " We are Christians, we can 
never deny Christ. Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He 
came down from Heaven and died on the cross for us. 
For that dying and loving Christ we are Christians; 
we are ready to die for Him who died for us." And 
they added further, " We are no better than our hus- 
bands were; you killed them, kill us too." Then the 
horrible butchery began on those defenseless women. 
Thousands of them were slaughtered, and thousands 
ran to different churches, hoping that perhaps they 
might find protection in some way in those holy walls, 



242 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

or hoping that God in his great mercy might shelter 
them. But the ferocious Kurds and Turkish soldiers 
pursued them, sword in hand, violated them, even in 
the churches, and cut their throats there until the 
floors were streaming with blood. Then they poured 
kerosene on the buildings and burned them. 

They went to one village and killed every man; 
the women of course, knowing their fate was soon to 
be worse than their husbands'. One of the leading 
women, named Sliaheg, perceiving that the Turks and 
Kurds were getting ready to seize and ravish them, 
called the other women and said, '' Sisters, our hus- 
bands are killed, and you know what is in store for 
us and our children. Don't let us fall into the hands 
of these savage beasts; we have to die anyway, and 
can die easier, and without being defiled first, and per- 
haps tortured. Let us go to the precipice and jump 
off." So saying, she took her baby on her arm, ran 
to the rock, and threw herself over; the others fol- 
lowed her, and thus all were killed. The Turks cap- 
tured many boys and girls, six, or eight, or ten years of 
age, held them by an arm or foot, and hacked them to 
pieces with their swords. Sometimes they stood the 
boys in a row and shot them, to see how many could 
be killed by a single bullet. They wrenched babies 
from their mothers' arms, cut their throats while the 
mothers shrieked and pleaded, and boiling them in 
kettles, forced the mothers to eat the flesh. They cut 
open women about to become mothers, tore out the 
unborn babes, and marched triumphantly with the 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 243 

ghastly trophies on their spears — something ahnost 
surpassing the savagery of the Apache Indian. Even 
their worst horrors they made worse yet by the way 
they did them; they took a gloating delight in doubling 
the crnelty or the shame by making it torture others 
too. The husband was forced to look on while his 
wife was violated, and she in turn while he was nm- 
tilated, tortured, and murdered; the father while his 
daughters, even little girls of ten or twelve, were de- 
flowered and their throats cut, the son while his pa- 
rents had every form of shame and torture inflicted 
on them, and were killed before him, or saw him killed 
first. They tortured their victims like Indians or 
Inquisitors, in every fashion of lingering death and 
torment that makes the heart sicken and the blood 
run cold to read of. Crucifying head downward, 
and pouring boiling w^ater or ice-cold water on them, 
leaving them so till death came ; flaying alive ; cutting 
off arms, feet, nose, ears, and other members, and 
leaving them to die; thrusting red-hot wires into and 
through their bodies. They pulled out the eyes of 
several Christian pastors, said, " ^ow dance for 
us," poured kerosene on them and burned them to 
death. They put a Bible and a cross before others, and 
ordered them to first spit and then trample on both, 
and deny Christ ; on their refusal they were butchered. 
The handsomest girls and young matrons were not 
murdered, but worse; each one was kept as a spoil of 
some Turk or Kurd, who carried her to his house, and 
made a slave and concubine of her. Many hundreds 



244 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

of them are there to this day, enduring the awful fate 
of having been dragged from happy and virtuous 
homes, seen their husbands, or parents, or brothers, or 
all of them horribly murdered, and passing their lives 
each in doing menial labor and serAdng the lust of a 
brutal master, and all the other men he lets have their 
will of her, without hope, or comfort, or decency, and 
a long life of shame and misery yet to look forward 
to. This is another specimen of Mohammedan purity, 
and it all happens because the Armenians are Chris- 
tians. If my readers think I am exaggerating, I re- 
fer them to the consular reports. All this was done 
by the barbarians con amore, with relish and delight. 
They boasted of it, they plumed themselves on it, they 
praised the Sultan for ordering them to do it, and he 
praised them for doing it, and decorated all the of- 
ficers. 

The condition of those who were murdered out- 
right was much better than that of those who were im- 
prisoned and tortured. The following was written 
by an Armenian from one of the prisons: — 

" Our condition in prison passes description. Only 
he who sees can understand it. Most of the occupants 
of every room are Christians, but many are Moslems. 
Life would be a shade more tolerable if the subject 
race were not compelled thus to associate with the dom- 
inant race, whose temper, tastes, and habits are so 
different. Into one small room twenty persons are 
crowded. Except for a few Moslems, not a single per- 
son has room enough on the bare floor to stretch out 
and lie down. For fully sixteen hours in the night, 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 245 

the doors of the rooms are all locked. In one of these 
small rooms, sometimes twenty cigarettes are smoking 
at once. Out of the small amount of food which 
reaches us, instead of eating themselves, the Chris- 
tians are obliged to feed the Moslems confined there. 
Moslem oppression continues, even here ; it is a tyranny 
within a tyranny. In every room there are a few 
Aghas or principal Moslems, and every Christian must 
contribute money to their lordships. Those who with- 
hold such contributions are not allowed to sit down. 

'' Among the inmates of the prison are twenty or 
thirty rowdies and bullies, under whom the Chris- 
tians must serve as menial slaves. There is no respect, 
no pity. The horrible blasphemies cannot be de- 
scribed. There is no book, no Bible, no work, no 
sleep. Every man is covered with the swarming ver- 
min with which the unwashed rooms of the prison 
teem. To clean ourselves is impossible. Xow and 
then the rumor sweeps through the prison that we are 
all to be put to death, and all our hearts melt like 
w^ater. 

" The terrible darkness of the night, the curses 
and stripes inflicted from time to time, cause us to live 
in the valley of the shadow of death. It is a living 
grave, a visible hell, a world without God. Out of this 
throng of prisoners more than a hundred are in daily 
suffering from the gnawing of hunger, and from na- 
kedness, but there is no one to pity. Many praying 
men are tempted to cease praying, many are tempted 
to change over to the Moslem faith. In truth, all of 
us are dumb; what to say w^e know not. We are 
wearied of the long silence; our eyes are strained 
with watching, our bones ache, our prayers are de- 
spised by the revilers. Xight is not night, and day is 
not day. Our grief is our food, our sleep is weeping, 
for how long a time must we cry ? Lord, wilt 



246 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Thou hide Thyself forever ? How long will Thy 
anger burn like fire ? And yet some of us are saying: 
' Though He slay me, yet will I. trust in Him.' 

^' When will the Christian statesmen and philan- 
thropists of the world find a way to cleanse these Au- 
gean stables all over Turkey ? Long centuries cry out 
for redress. Within a month the following incidents 
have occurred: A Christian confined in this prison 
was ordered to receive 400 stripes. After 300 had 
been inflicted he cried out that he could endure no 
more or he must die. An ofiicer then presented to 
him a paper wdth the names of fifty Christians in the 
citv who were accused therein of sedition. In his 
great agony he signed it, and this is to be used to in- 
criminate others, wholly regardless of their guilt or 
innocence. The other victim of unendurable stripes 
Avas an old man. When he could endure no more of 
this inhuman treatment, he also was asked to sign a 
paper implicating others indiscriminately. 

^^ Can any one living in a free country for a mo- 
ment imderstand what it is to live under such a gov- 
ernment ? There is a great flourish just at present 
over the reforms that are being instituted in certain 
parts of this land. I^o resident of this country can 
have confidence in the superficial operations. AVhat 
will you do with a land where lying is the simplest of 
mental exercises, and where no one was ever known 
to blush over it if exposed ? " 

I give here the testimony of a gentleman from 
Sassoun who escaped the atrocities. He is an Ar- 
menian from Sassoun, and my personal friend. I 
quote this from a little pamphlet, entitled " Facts 
About Armenia." 




M \8S xrUE A 




khzi^H''i:m iti'itixu %\ v-sArui-:, 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IK ARMENIA. 247 

The Massacre of 1894. 

" The Armenians of Sassoun were fully aware of 
the hostile intention of the government, but they could 
not imagine it to be one ol utter extermination. 

'' The Porte had prepared its plans, Sassoun was 
doomed. The Kurds were to come in much greater 
number, the government was to furnish them provision 
and ammunition, and the regular army was to second 
them in case of need. 

'^ The various tribes received invitations to take 
part in the great expedition, and the chiefs, with their 
men, arrived one after the other. The total number 
of the Kurds who took part in the campaign may 
be estimated at 30,000. The Armenians believed in 
the beginning that they had to do only with the Kurds. 
They found out later that an Ottoman regular army, 
with provisions, rifles, cannons, and kerosene oil, was 
standing at the back of the Kurds. 

'' The plan was to destroy first Shenig, Semal, 
Guelliegoozan,Aliantz,etc.,and then to proceed toward 
Dalvorig. The Kurds, notwithstanding their im- 
mense number, proved to be unequal to the task. The 
Armenians held their own, and the Kurds got worsted. 
After a two weeks' fight between Kurd and Armenian, 
the regular army entered into an active campaign. 
Mountain pieces began to thunder. The Armenians, 
having nearly exhausted their ammunition, took to 
flight. Kurd and Turk pursued them, and massacred 
men, women, and children. The houses were searched 
and then set on fire. From certain villages groups 
of men, tax receipts in their hands, went to the camp 
and asked to be protected, but were slaughtered. 

^^ A great number of villages outside of the Dal- 
vorig district, which had in no wise been concerned in 
the conflicts of the previous years, were also attacked, 
to the unspeakable horror of the populations. The 



248 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

troops climbed up even the Mount Antok, where a 
multitude of fugitives had taken refuge, and mas- 
sacred them. A number of women and girls were 
taken to the church of Guelliegoozan, and after being 
frightfully abused, were tortured to death. 

" When the work of destruction was nearly accom- 
plished in the other districts, some of the Kurdish ar- 
mies were set on Dalvorig. The people defended 
themselves against the overwhelming number of. the 
barbarians, but after four or five days they saw other 
tribes and regular Turkish troops marching on them 
from every side, and they took to flight, but were over- 
taken and massacred. The scene was most hor- 
rible. The enemy took a special delight in 
butchering the Dalvorig people. An immense 
crowd of Turkish and Kurdish soldiery fell upon the 
villages, busily searching the houses and rooting out 
hidden treasures, and then setting fire to the village. 
While the troops were so occupied, a number of the 
fugitives fled ^vildly to get out of the district, and tried 
to hide themselves in caves, between rocks, or among 
bushes. Three days after the complete destruction 
of Dalvorig villages, the Kurds and the regular sol- 
diers divided among themselves the result of the plun- 
der, and the Kurds returned to their own mountains.'' 

As my use of English is defective, I take the lib- 
erty here of quoting from a long letter by E. J. Dillon 
to the Contemporary Review, January, 1896. 

Dr. Dillon is an Englishman who was the special 

correspondent of the London '^ Daily Telegraph," a 

most accurate and conscientious reporter, who writes 

as an eye-witness: 

" If a detailed description were possible of the hor- 
rors which our exclusive attention to our own mistaken 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 249 

interests let loose upon Turkish Armenians, there is 
not a man within the kingdom of Great Britain whose 
heart-strings would not be touched and thrilled by the 
gruesome stories of which it would be composed. 

" During all those seventeen years, written law, 
traditional custom, the fundamental maxims of human 
and divine justice were suspended in favor of a Mo- 
hammedan saturnalia. The Christians, by whose 
toil and thrift the empire was held together, were de- 
spoiled, beggared, chained, beaten, and banished or 
butchered. First their movable wealth was seized, 
then their landed property was confiscated, next the ab- 
solute necessaries of life were wreste<l from them, and 
finally honor, liberty, and life were taken with as lit- 
tle ado as if these Christian men and women were 
wasps or mosquitoes. Thousands of Armenians were 
thrown into prison by governors like Tahsin Pasha and 
Bahri Pasha, and tortured and terrorized till they de- 
livered up the savings of a lifetime, and the support 
of the helpless families, to ruffianly parasites. Whole 
villages were attacked in broad daylight by the Im- 
perial Kurdish cavalry without pretext or warn- 
ing, the male inhabitants turned adrift or killed, and 
their wives and daughters transformed into instru- 
ments to glut the foul lusts of these bestial murderers. 
In a few years the provinces were decimated, Alogh- 
kerd, for instance, being almost entirely ' purged ' 
of Armenians. Over 20,000 woe-stricken wretches, 
once healthy and well-to-do, fled to Kussia or Persia 
in rags and misery, deformed, diseased, or dying; on 
the way they were seized over and over again by the 
soldiers of the Sultan, who deprived them of the little 
money they possessed, nay, of the clothes they were 
wearing, outraged the married women in the pres- 
ence of their sons and daughters, deflowered the tender 
^'irls before the eyes of their mothers and brothers, 



£50 Armenia and her people. 

and then drove tliem over the frontier to starve and 
die. Those who remained for a time behind were no 
better oif. Kurdish brigands Hfted the last cows and 
goats of the peasants, carried away their carpets and 
their vahiables, raped their daughters and dishonored 
their wives. Turkish tax-gatherers followed these, 
gleaning what the brigands had left, and, lest any- 
thing shoidd escape their avarice, bound the men, 
flogged them till their bodies were a bloody, mangled 
mass, cicatrized the wounds w^ith red-hot ramrods, 
plucked out their beards hair by hair, tore the flesh 
from their limbs with pincers, and often, even then, 
dissatisfied with the financial results of their exertions, 
hung the men whom they had thus beggared and mal- 
treated from the rafters of the room, and kept them 
there to witness with burning shame, impotent rage, 
and incipient madness, the dishonoring of their wives 
and the deflowering of their daughters, some of whom 
died miserably during the hellish outrage. 

" In accordance with the plan of extermination, 
which has been carried cut with such signal success 
during these long years of Turkish vigor and English 
sluggishness, all those Armenians who possessed mo- 
ney, or money's worth were for a time allowed to pur- 
chase immunity from prison, and from all that prison 
life in Asia Minor implies. But as soon as terror and 
summary confiscation took the place of slow and elab- 
orate extortion, the gloomy dungeons of Erzeroum, 
Erzinghan, Marsovan, Ilassankaleh, and Van were 
filled, till there was no place to sit down, and scarcely 
suflftcient standing room. And this means more than 
English people can realize, or any person believe who 
has not actually witnessed it. It would have been a 
torture for Turkish troopers and Kurdish brigands, 
but it was worse than death to the educated school- 
masters, missionaries, priests, and physicians Avho were 



ifiE TtilKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 251 

immured in these noisome hotbeds of infection, and 
forced to sleep niglit after night standing on their 
feet, leaning against the foul, reeking corner of the 
wall which all the prisoners were compelled to use as 
The very worst class of Tartar and 
Kurdish criminals were turned in here to make these 
hell-chambers more unbearable to the Christians. 
And the experiment w^as everywhere successful. Hu- 
man hatred and diabolical spite, combined with the 
most disgusting sights, and sounds, and stenches, with 
their gnawing hunger and their putrid food, their 
parching thirst and the slimy w^ater, fit only for sew- 
ers, rendered their agony maddening. Yet these were 
not criminals nor alleged criminals, but upright Chris- 
tian men, who were never even accused of an infrac- 
tion of the law. ^o man who has not seen these 
prisons with his own eyes, and heard these prisoners 
with his own ears, can be expected to conceive, much 
less realize, the sufferings inflicted and endured. The 
loathsome diseases, whose terrible ravages were freely 
displayed; the still more loathsome vices, which were 
continually and openly practiced; the horrible blas- 
phemies, revolting obscenities, and ribald jests which 
alternated with cries of pain, songs of vice, and pray- 
ers to the unseen God, made these prisons, in some 
respects, nearly as bad as the Black Hole of Calcutta, 
and in others infinitely worse. In one corner of this 
foul fever-nest a man mi^2:ht be heard moaning and 
groaning with the pain of a shattered arm or leg; in 
another, a youth is convulsed v/ith the death spasms 
of cholera or poison; in the center, a knot of Turks, 
whose dull eyes are fired with bestial lust, surround a 
Christian boy, who pleads for mercy with heart-har- 
rowing voice while the human fiends actually outrage 
him to death. 

" Into these prisons venerable old ministers of 



252 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

religion were dragged from tlieir churches, teachers 
from their schools, missionaries from their meeting- 
honses, merchants, physicians, and peasants from their 
firesides. Those among them who refused to de- 
nounce their friends, or consent to some atrocious 
crime, were subjected to horrible agonies. Many a 
one, for instance, was put into a sentry-box bristling 
with sharp spikes, and forced to stand there motionless, 
without food or drink, for twenty-four and even thir- 
ty-six hours, was revived with stripes whenever he fell 
fainting to the prickly floor, and was carried out un- 
conscious at the end. ].t was thus that hundreds of 
Armenian Christians, whose names and histories are 
on record, suffered for refusing to sign addresses to 
the Sultan accusing their neighbors and relatives of 
high treason. It was thus that Azo was treated by 
his judges, the Turkish officials, Talib Effendi, Cap- 
tain Reshid, and Captain Hadji Fehim Agha, for de- 
clining to swear away the lives of the best men of his 
village. A whole night was spent in torturing him. 
He was first bastinadoed in a room close to which his 
female relatives and friends were shut up so that they 
could hear his cries. Then he was stripped naked, 
two poles extending from his armpits to his feet were 
placed on each side of his body and tied tightly. His 
arms were next stretched out horizontally and poles 
arranged to support his hands. This living cross was 
then bound to a pillar, and the flogging began. The 
whips left livid traces behind. The wretched man 
was unable to make the slightest movement to ease his 
pain. His features alone, hideously distorted, re- 
vealed the anguish he endured. The louder he cried, 
the more heavily fell the whip. Over and over again 
he entreated his tormentors to put him out of pain, 
saying, ' If you want my death, kill me with a bullet, 
but for God's sake don't torture me like this ! ' His 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 253 

head alone being free, he at last, maddened by ex- 
cruciating pain, endeavored to dash out his brains 
against the pillar, hoping in this way to end his agony. 
But this consummation was hindered by the police. 
They questioned him again; but in spite of his con- 
dition, Azo replied as before: ' I cannot defile my 
soul with the blood of innocent people. I am a Chris- 
tion.' Enraged at this obstinacy, Talib Effendi, the 
Turkish official, ordered the application of other and 
more effective tortures. Pincers were fetched to 
pull out his teeth, but, Azo remaining firm, this 
method was not long persisted in. Then Talib com- 
manded his servants to pluck out the prisoner's mous- 
tachios by the roots, one hair at a time. This order 
the gendarmes executed, with roars of infernal laugh- 
ter. But this treatment proving equally ineffectual, 
Talib instructed the men to cauterize the unfortunate 
victim's body. A spit was heated in the fire. Azo's 
arms were freed from their supports, and two brawny 
policemen approached, one on each side and seized 
him. Meanwhile another gendarme held to the mid- 
dle of the wretched man's hands the glowing spit. 
While his flesh was thus burning, the victim shouted 
out in agony, ' For the love of God kill me at once ! ' 

^' Then the executioners, removing the red-hot 
spit from his hands, applied it to his breast, then to his 
back, his face, his feet, and other parts. After this, 
they forced open his mouth, and burned his tongue 
with red-hot pincers. During these inhuman opera- 
tions, Azo fainted several times, but on recovering con- 
sciousness maintained the same inflexibility of pur- 
pose. Meanwhile, in the adjoining apartment, a 
heart-rending scene was being enacted. The wo- 
men and the children, terrified by the groans and 
cries of the tortured man, fainted. When they re- 
vived, they endeavored to rush out to call for help, 



254 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

but tlie gendarmesj stationed at the door, barred tkeir 
passage, and brutally pushed them back. ^* 

^' lights were passed in such hellish orgies and 
days in inventing new tortures or refining upon the 
oldj with an ingenuity which reveals unimagined 
strata of malignity in the human heart. The results 
throw the most sickening horrors of the Middle Ages 
into the shade. Some of them cannot be described, 
nor even hinted at. The shock to people's sensibili- 
ties would be too terrible. And yet they were not 
merely described to, but endured by men of education 
and refinement, whose sensibilities were as delicate 
as ours. 

^^ And when the prisons in which these and analo- 
gous doings were carried on had no more room for 
new-comers, some of the least obnoxious of its actual 
inmates were released for a bribe, or, in case of pov- 
erty, were expeditiously poisoned off. 

^' In the homes of these wretched people the fiend- 
ish fanatics were equally active and equally success- 
ful. Family life was poisoned at its very source. 
Rape and dishonor, with nameless accompaniments, 
menaced almost every girl and woman in the land. 
They could not stir out of their houses in broad day- 
light to visit the bazaars, or to Avork in the fields, 
nor even lie down at night in th^ir own homes, with- 
out fearing the fall of that Damocles' sword ever sus- 
pended over their heads. Tender j^outh, childhood 
itself) was no guarantee. Children were often mar- 
ried at the as^e of eleven, even ten, in the vain hope of 
lessening this danger. But the protection of a hus- 

* The above description is taken literally from a report 
of the British Vice-Consul of Erzeronm. Copies are in pos- 
session of the diplomatic representatives of the powers at 
Constantinople. The scene occurred in the Village of Semal 
before the massacres, during the normal condition of things. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 255 

band proved unavailing; it merely meant one murder 
more, and one ' Christian dog ' less. A bride would 
be married in church yesterday, and her body would 
be devoured by the beasts and birds of prey to-mor- 
row, — a band of ruffians, often officials, having with- 
in the intervening forty-eight hours seized her and 
outraged her to death. Others would be abducted, 
and, having for Aveeks been subjected to the loathsome 
lusts of lawless Kurds, would end by abjuring their 
God and embracing Islam; not from any vulgar mo- 
tive of gain, but to escape the burning shame of re- 
turning home as pariahs and lepers, to be shunned by 
those near and dear to them forever. Little girls of 
five and six were frequently forced to be present dur- 
ing these horrible scenes of lust, and they, too, were 
often sacrificed before the eyes of their mothers, who 
would have gladly, madly accepted death, ay, and 
damnation, to save their tender offspring from the 
corroding poison. 

'^ One of the abducted young women who, having 
been outraged by the son of the Deputv-Governor of 
Khnouss, Hussein Bey, returned, a pariah, and is now 
alone in the world, lately appealed to her English 
sisters for such aid as a heathen would give to a brute, 
and she besought it in the name of our common God. 
Lucine Mussegh — this is the name of that outraged 
young woman wdiose Protestant education gave her, 
as she thought, a special claim to act as the spokes- 
woman of Armenian mothers and daughters — Lu- 
cine Mussegh besought, last March, the women of 
England to obtain for the women of Armenia the 
' privilege ' of living a pure and chaste life ! This 
was the boon which she craved — but did not, could 
not obtain. The interests of ^ higher politics,' the 
civilizing missions of the Christian powers, are, it 
seems, incompatible with it ! ^ For the love of the God 



256 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

whom we worship in common/ wrote this outraged, 
but still hopeful, Armenian lady, ' help us. Christian 
sisters ! Help us before it is too late, and take the 
thanks of the mothers, the wives, the sisters, and the 
daughters of my people, and with them the gratitude 
of one for whom, in spite of her youth, death would 
come as a happy release.' 

'' I^either the Christian sisters nor the Christian 
brethren in England have seen their way to comply 
with this strange request. But it may perhaps in- 
terest TAicine Mussegh to learn that the six great pow- 
ers of Europe are quite unanimous, and are manfully 
resolved, come what will, to shield His Majesty the 
Sultan from harm, to support his rule, and tO guar- 
antee his kingdom from disintegration.' These are 
objects worthy of the attention of the great powers; 
as for the privilege of leading pure and chaste lives — 
they cannot be importuned about such private mat- 
ters. 

" In due time they began. Over 60,000 Armen- 
ians have been butchered, and the massacres are not 
quite ended yet. In Trebizond, Erzeroum, Erzin- 
ghan, Hassankalek, and numberless other places the 
Christians were crushed like grapes during the vin- 
tage. The frantic mob, seething and surging in the 
streets of the cities, swept down upon the defenseless 
Armenians, plundered their shops, gutted their houses, 
then joked and jested with the terrified victims, as 
cats play with mice. As rapid, whirling motion pro- 
duces apparent rest, so the wild frenzy of those fierce 
fanatical crowds resulted in a condition of seeming 
calmness, composure, and gentleness which, taken in 
connection with the* unutterable brutality of their 
acts, was of a nature to freeze men's blood with hor- 
ror. In many cases they almost caressed their vie- 




O 

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I— I 

I— I 

o 

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THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 257 

tims, and actually encouraged them to hope, while pre- 
paring the instruments of slaughter.'' 

After the horrible scenes at Sassoun, and other 
places, the Armenian protests shamed the European 
powers, who signed the treaty of Berlin, to send a com- 
mission and investigate the atrocities. It found the 
stories quite true, laid the facts before the Sultan — 
and that was the end of it. The Armenians asked, 
" Since you admit the truth of these things, why do 
you not punish the criminals, stop the outrages, and 
compel the payment of indemnity to those who were 
outraged and Avho lost their dear ones and their prop- 
erty ? " The powers were deaf to all this. Then the 
Armenians prepared an appeal (several months ago) 
and carried it to the Sublime Porte, asking it to do 
them justice. As soon as the Sultan heard of this, he 
ordered his soldiers to fire on them if they presented 
it. The appeal was presented, and before the eyes 
of the European Ambassadors in Constantinople, the 
brave soldiers of the kind-hearted Sultan butchered 
about 3,000 Armenian Christians, several thousand 
were imprisoned, and several hundred were murdered 
in the Central Prison. Then the cold, wise, and con- 
siderate European powers began to move very slowly, 
not for the sake of the Armenians, but for their own, 
their citizens in Constantinople and elsewhere. 

They ordered the Sultan to reform Armenia, 
brought their fleets to the Dardanelles near Constan- 
tinople to overawe him, prepared a scheme of reform 
for Armenia, and made huge threats to the Sultan 
17 



258 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

if lie did not aocept it. But he knew that this pre- 
tended concert of the powers for Armenian reform 
was a mere trick and sham, as I have persistently as- 
serted all along in the face of my hopeful European 
and American friends; in fact, the Kussian govern- 
ment at this very time was secretly urging him to stand 
firm and refuse to accept the reforms. He did so, 
broached a scheme of his own as a substitute, and the 
powers accepted it as such; and then the whole thing 
was dropped, the Sultan did nothing whatever about 
it, as he had never intended to. The European coun- 
tries were hoodwinked, and the Armenian massacres 
and conflagrations, plundering and deflowering, went 
on at a greater pace than ever. Then the powers 
dropped the Armenian question, and took up that of 
gunboats in the Bosphorus, to protect their citizens 
against a rising in Constantinople; that they forced 
the Sultan to permit, because their own interests were 
concerned in it, — which shows that they could have 
forced him to stop exterminating the Armenians if 
they had cared. All joined in this except Germany; 
the German Emperor is the Sultan's friend, and backs 
him up. So now Germany, Russia, and the Sultan 
are hand in hand, leagued to prevent any of the mis- 
erable victims of his tyranny from escaping his clut- 
ches, and the Sultan has the best possible encourage- 
ment to go on killing the Armenians. The German 
Emperor says, ^' Better that Armenians be killed 
than have a war in Europe and lose the lives of some 
of my soldiers." The Czar says, " Time must be 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 259 

given to the Sultan to reform his country." Lord 
Salisbury says, " The Sultan has promised, and we 
must wait and see what he will do." And the Sultan, 
cursing every Emperor and lord of them all as a set 
of Christian hogs, orders the soldiers and the Kurds to 
go on with the good work in Armenia. And when we 
come to America, the Monroe doctrine obliges it to 
quarrel over Venezuela, and not only refuse help 
itself, but give Lord Salisbury a good excuse to give 
none either. 

Such is the situation; the massacres are going on 
in Armenia and the Armenians in despair are crying, 
" O Lord, how long, how long ! " 

Mass meetings are good as far as they go; raising 
money and sending it to relieve the Armenians is good 
as far as it goes; the Ked Cross Society is good as far 
as it goes; there are no objections to any of them; they 
are all noble and Christian. But, reader, don't you 
think all these good movements with good motives 
will hurt the Armenian cause, as there is nothing to 
aid that cause directly ? All these mass-meetings 
merely irritate the Sultan into carrying on the mur- 
ders more strenuouslv, since there is no force back 
of them. Don't you think the Armenian question 
being discussed in the United States Congress, and 
resolutions made without any action, will hurt the 
Armenians more than anything else ? If you can't 
tread down the Sultan, don't stir him up. Miss Clara 
Barton, that noble woman, is in Armenia to help the 
Armenians. The Red Cross Society is there and is 



260 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

feeding tlie Armenians. I thank lier, every Armen- 
ian thanks her. But do you think that that will re- 
lieve the situation ? Spring has come, and what 
now ? Will the Armenians have any crops ? Did 
they, or could they sow any seed ? Is there any far- 
mer left alive ? Has any farmer, if he is alive, any 
oxen or horses ? If he has, will he dare go to his field, 
sow, reap, and thresh ? Reader, consider all these 
things, and reconsider them, and I am sure you will 
come to the same conclusion I did many years ago, 
that Turkey does not need a Red Cross Society, but 
a Red Cross crusade, not like the medieval crusades, 
but a Protestant American crusade in the nineteenth 
century. Let me illustrate this Armenian question 
by the following parable: — 

Suppose a lamb is torn by a wolf, and the wolf lies 
in wait to finish it. You go to the lamb with a bundle 
of grass in your hand, pat it and say, " Here, poor 
lamb, I pity you, I give you grass; take it and eat it." 
Then you leave the larnb and go away. Do you think 
you have helped the lamb ? As soon as you have 
gone, the wolf will come and tear the lamb to pieces. 
If you are going to help the lamb, you must kill the 
wolf, else no matter how much grass you give the 
wounded lamb, it will do it no good. You will do no 
good by sending Red Cross societies to Armenia to feed 
the Armenians if you have not the power or the will 
to keep the wild beasts off. You will feed them, and 
then the wolves will kill them. 

i^ow I will pass in review some of the leading cities 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 261 

in Armenia where there have been great persecutions. 
Before beginning, however, I must state that it is 
impossible to give an accurate census of the popula- 
tion in the Armenian cities, or the number who have 
been massacred; for the Turkish government never 
takes a correct census, and never gives or will give 
the true nmnber of those it has murdered. But I 
think I can make a fair approximation of both. I 
will begin with the city of Harpoot. * 

HARPOOT AND ITS VICINITY. 
This is one of the most important Armenian dis- 
tricts, because the Armenians outnumber the Mo- 
hammedans there; in the city the Turks are the more 
numerous, but there are many Armenian towns and 
villages which make up. The district has about 150,- 
000 people, most of them Armenians, and about 40,- 
000 were killed in the recent massacre. Harpoot is 
built on three hills, and has a commanding view. 
Here is located a great American missionary institu- 
tion, the Euphrates College; it has three departments, 
the college, the Theological Seminary, and the Girls' 
Seminary. There were twelve buildings, eight of 
which were burned in the outrages, a loss of $100,- 
000. 

Almost all the outlying villages were burned, 
and the movables carried off. Women were made 
prey, boys and girls were kidnapped; the horrors can 
never be described. T give here a few words from a 
private letter, written by a Mohammedan Turk to 
his brother in this country. I have the letter in my 

* Extracts from letters are left unsigned for fear of en- 
dangering the writers' lives. 



262 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

possession, written in the Turkish language. He 

says: — 

"My dear brother: 

All the Christian villages which belong to Har- 
poot district, we plundered and destroyed, and killed 
the inhabitants. We killed them both with our 
swords and with our rifles. The bullets of our rifles 
poured upon them like rain; none of them are left, 
neither any dwelling was left, we burnt all their 
houses. We thank God that not a single Mohamme- 
dan was killed. Everywhere throughout Armenia 
the Christians were punished in the same manner." 

Another testimony from another Mohammedan, 
an ofiicer; he says nearly 40,000 were killed in Har- 
poot province, February 26, 1896: — 

■ " A petition in behalf of the Armenians was given 
to the powers in the hope of improving their condi- 
tion. An imperial firman was issued for carrying out 
the reforms suggested by the powers. On this ac- 
count the Turkish population was much excited, and 
thought that an Armenian principality was to be es- 
tablished, and they began to show great hostility to 
the poor Armenians, who had been obedient to them 
and with whom they had lived in peace for more 
than 600 years. To the anger of the people were 
added the permission and help of the government; 
and so, before the reforms were undertaken, the whole 
Turkish population was aroused, with the evil intent 
of obliterating the Armenian name; and so the Turks 
of the province, joining Avith the neighboring Kurd- 
ish tribes by the thousand, armed with weapons which 
are allowed only to the army, and with the help and 
under the guidance of Turkish oflicials, in an open 
manner, in the daytime, attacked the Armenian 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 263 

houses, shops, stores, monasteries, churches, schools, 
and committed the fearful atrocities set forth in the 
accompanying table. They killed bishops, priests, 
teachers, and common people with every kind of tor- 
ture, and they showed special spite toward ecclesias- 
tics by treating their bodies with extra indignity, and 
in many cases they did not allow their bodies to be 
buried. Some they burned, and some they gave as 
food to dogs and wild beasts. 

^' They plundered churches and monasteries, and 
they took all the property of the common people, their 
flocks and herds, their ornaments and their money, 
their house furnishings and their food, and even the 
clothing of the men and women in their flight. Then 
after plundering them, they burned many houses, 
churches, monasteries, schools, and markets, some- 
times using petroleum, which they had brought with 
them to hasten the burning ; large stone churches which 
would not burn they ruined in other ways. 

" Priests, laymen, women, and even small chil- 
dren were made Moslems by force. They put white 
turbans on the men and circumcised them in a cruel 
manner. They cut the hair of the women in bangs, 
like that of Moslem women, and made them go 
through the Mohammedan prayers. Married women 
and girls were defiled, against the sacred law, and 
some were married by force, and are still detained in 
Turkish houses. Especially in Palu, Severek, Ma- 
latia, Arabkir, and Choonkoosh, many women and 
girls were taken to the soldiers' barracks and dis- 
honored. Many, to escape, threw themselves into the 
Euphrates, or committed suicide in other ways. 

" It is clear that the majority of those killed in 

Harpoot, Severek, ETusenik, Malatia, and Arabkir 

were killed by the soldiers, and also that the schools 

and churches of the missionaries and Gregorians in the 



264 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

upper quarter of Ilarpoot City, together witli tke 
houses, were set on fire by cannon balls. 

^' It is impossible to state the amount of the pecu- 
niary loss. The single city of Egin has given 1,200 
(some say 1,500) Turkish pounds as a ransom. 

^" These events have occurred for the reasons I 
have mentioned. I wish to show by this statement, 
which I have written from love to humanity, that the 
Armenians gave no occasion for these attacks." 

The Turk, whose document is thus translated, 
figures that the total deaths in the province of Har- 
poot during the scenes, have been 39,334; the wound- 
ed 8,000; houses burned, 28,562; and that the num- 
ber of the destitutes is 94,870. 

^^ In a letter just received (Jan. 18, 1896) from the 
Rev. PL ]N^. Barnum, D.D., of Ilarpoot, Eastern Tur- 
key, where the property of the American Board was 
burned, he says that reports have been secured from 
176 villages in the vicinity of Ilarpoot. These vil- 
lages contained 15,400 houses belonging to Christians. 
Of this number 7,054 have been burned, and 15,845 
persons are reported killed. Dr. Barnum adds : ^ The 
reality, I fear, will prove to be much greater.' " 

A letter from an Armenian named Kallajian, 
written from Husenik, a town about three miles from 
Harpoot, addressed to his brother in this country, says : 

" Sunday, T^ovember 11, the government came 
to our town, Husenik, and asked the Armenians to 
give up their arms, and they surrendered all they had; 
and in the evening asked them to take the church bell 
down. They also obeyed, and by night the Turkish 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 265 

soldiers surrounded the town until the morning, and 
in the morning early they sounded the bugle. When 
they soimded the bugle, about 25,000 Kurds made an 
attack on the town, and pkmdered all the houses, kill- 
ing 700 men, women, and children, besides the 
wounded. When the attack was made, we left our 
house, with two of our neighbors' families and many 
others from our town, about thirty in all. One little 
boy, my nephew, I carried on my shoulders, and the 
other was carried by its mother, and we ran up the 
hill toward Harpoot. The bullets were showering 
upon us by hundreds, and father fell. He was shot 
once in the head and once in the belly, and stabbed 
with a sword through his chin. When we reached 
the top of the hill, about twenty Kurds came down 
from Harpoot, and took all our clothes and money, 
and left us naked; and a little after, a band of Turks 
came down and made so much trouble for us that I 
am unable to describe it. They took us to the city, 
and we finally succeeded in getting to the house of 
Sadukh Effendi, formerly of our town, but now living 
in the city. We went to his house, and this kind man 
kept us there for two days in his house, and on Tuesday 
evening he took us to our own town, and as we came 
near to our house I found that father was dead under 
a tree. We went to the house ; we saw that our house 
was open and stripped of everything, and father's 
trunk was broken open, and his papers were soaked in 
kerosene and set on fire, and twenty-five houses were 
destroyed on our street. We are hungry and in des- 
titute condition; help us if you can. Our little 
nephew savs : ^ O Jesus, keep us afar from such trou- 
ble.' " 

There are other letters also from Harpoot, but 
this is enou2fh to show the nature of the scenes there. 



2Q^ ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

PALOO AND WHAT HAPPENED THERE. 

Paloo is one of the oldest cities in Armenia. It 
had 15,000 population, 5,000 Armenians and 10,000 
Mohammedans, and there were over forty Armenian 
villages in the district around. About 5,000 Chris- 
tians were killed during the recent massacre. 

Personal Letters From Paloo, 
December 15, 1895. 

" Paloo is in a miserable condition. All the 
houses and shops have been robbed. About 2,000 per- 
sons have perished, and few have survived this great 
ruin; but we thank God all our family is in safety. 
Just to-day I received a letter from our home; they 
write: ^ We are alive, but hungry.' They have no 
bread to eat, and no clothes to wear; our only hope is 
God. If the country is soon reformed we can get our 
living, but if not we shall all perish. Turks, Kurds, 
and soldiers united, plundered, robbed, and burned the 
houses of Paloo and the neighboring villages. You 
can guess very well who has given the order." 

A personal letter received by the Armenian Relief 
Association, in this city, under date of Paloo, Ar- 
menia, November 24, presents an awful picture of 
the horrors to which the people there are subjected. 
The letter is in part as follows : — 

" On ^N^ovember 3, the Turks of the town armed 
themselves, attacked the stores, plundered their con- 
tents, and killed those who attempted to defend them- 
selves. A few days later the Turks left the town, 
joined a band of 10,000 Kurds, and began a general 
assault upon the surrounding villages, pillaging and 
burning the houses, and killing all the men. They 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 267 

poured kerosene oil on all the stored grain and set it 
on fire, and mixed the flour with filth, so that it could 
not be used. The beautiful women were delivered to 
the Kurds, who committed the most indescribable out- 
rages. Many were carried off to slavery, and forced 
to accept Mohammedanism. 

" In Habab Village, where the people defended 
themselves for six days, the government soldiers were 
called to the aid of the Kurds, and the united forces 
overpow^ered the village and burned all except fifteen 
of their three hundred houses. 

" All of the forty-one Armenian villages around 
Paloo are in ashes, the fields laid waste, and the in- 
habitants massacred. ISTothing is left but death and 
desolation. 

" On NTovember 11, 10,000 armed Kurds fell upon 
the city of Paloo. They plundered the houses, even 
pulling down the walls with hooks to discover any- 
thing valuable that might be hidden. All the large 
houses were burned. Ten of the wealthy Armenians, 
who have always cared for the poor, and sheltered 
the distressed, are left without a pair of shoes or a 
blanket, 1,732 men were butchered in cold blood, 
and of the 10,000 population, two hundred men only 
are left, saved on condition that they serve the Turks 
as slaves. 

" More than 5,000 women and children are left 
without any means of living. They are begging from 
door to door for even a meagre pittance of bran, which 
is all that is left, and every day death claims more 
and more of the victims by starvation. All of the 
more beautiful women have been taken by the Kurds. 
The Armenian youths who have been forced to accept 
Mohammedanism are also forced to take Turkish wives 
to prove their sincerity. 



268 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

^' All of my relations, save two, have been killed 
in my presence. Our priests have all been butchered, 
except one, who was forced to accept Islamism. Our 
churches have been turned into mosques, where the 
remaining women and old men are compelled to go 
and be taught Islam by the Mohammedan priest.'' 

But here is another letter, from an Armenian 
mother to her son in this country, which brings us still 
closer to the actual horrors, for this woman was herself 
a victim — turned at a blow from a comfortably ma- 
tron to a naked beggar, in winter, among the ruins of 
her village, her own friends killed, herself foully 
abused. Read this, and then talk, if you dare, about 
" exaggerated accounts " ! 

'' December 12, 1895. 
"My Dear Son: — 
" We received your letter dated November 14th, 
which we read with great pleasure. You asked for 
information about us, as to how we are, etc. Except 
your father, we are all still alive, with our relatives, 
and long to see you very much. It is very hard to 
describe with the pen all the misfortunes that we 
have undergone. They cannot be told ; but since you 
are very eager to know, I w^ill try to write it down 
for you very briefly. My dear son, on Tuesday, 
November 28th, they took by force the oxen that are 
used for ploughing the fields. Until the evening of 
that day they gathered all the oxen for ploughing from 
Paloo and the neighboring Armenian villages, and 
took them for themselves, and gave us notice that they 
should attack the village. Wednesday morning all 
the people of the surrounding Turkish villages gath- 
ered round about our village, and our village was be- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 269 

sieged until about noontime. From ten to fifteen 
persons were killed up to that time from our side, and 
the village was surrounded by more than twenty-two 
thousand Turks and Kurds, who bear arms. It was 
impossible for us to protect our village. We applied 
to the government, there was no government to hear 
us; despair reigned in the hearts of all. They fought 
until evening, and before they had reached us, we, 
all the villagers, left everything, even not taking 
bread for one meal with us, went to the monastery 
and left the village to the Turks. We passed the 
night in the monastery, hungry and thirsty ; the num- 
ber of the killed reached to thirty by morning. 
Then we learned that it was not safe, even in the 
monastery, although they had plundered it two or 
three times. Thursday, by noontime, the monastery 
was full of villagers. At noon there was a blow on 
the door of the monaster v. Ravenous Turks, Zazes, 

t/ 7 7 

and others were besieging the building. Until evening 
they beat at the iron door to break it; fifteen persons 
were at it, but it was impossible for them to open it. 
Within, the shrieks and the cries of the people reached 
up to heaven. Men, in order to save their lives, dressed 
themselves in women's clothes, and covered their 
heads. Your brother wrapped his moustaches 
so thickly that he should not be known, as the Turks 
were after him by name. About 3 p. m., when the 
Turks saw that it was not possible for them to open the 
gate of the monastery, they broke in one of the stones 
in the wall, and the plunderers entered. ... I 
cannot describe here the sufferings of the people. 
Within one hour they robbed and violated a popula- 
tion of 1,500 people, five times each woman, mar- 
ried or maiden, and then left the monastery. The 
villagers, every one to save her or his life, left every- 



270 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

thingj property, cattle, merchandise, and provisions, 
and fled, the man leaving his wife, the wife her child, 
the son his mother, the brother his sister, and they dis- 
persed in the adjoining mountains, plains, valleys, 
and hills, with only their under-garments on, as the 
Tnrks and Kurds had stripped them of everything 
else. Friday morning the number of the killed had 
reached about fifty. Your father was shot on the 
plain of Sacrat, but the wound was not dangerous. 
For three days the people gathered in Sacrat, hungry 
and thirsty; from Sacrat they were given over to 
the Zazes, to take them to the city. ... I can 
not write down here all the things we endured at the 
hands of the Zazes. . Finally, after we had suffered 
unmentionable cruelties, being twice plundered in 
the city and violated, three brides and maidens were 
carried away as slaves by the Kurds, more than one 
hundred persons were martyred, among whom were 
two priests, and the rest were forced to accept Mo- 
hammedanism, and after that the massacre ceased. 
For twenty days we remained in the city, naked, hun- 
gry, and thirsty, also hopeless. The city was rescued 
from the massacre after having suffered the loss of six 
hundred houses, together with all the property of the 
shops and stores, and the total sum of the martyred 
being 2,000. Our village was given over to be burned 
for twenty days successively. Out of two hundred 
houses, there are hardly thirty left sound; the rest 
are all razed to the ground. . . . The rest of 
this story will follow by next mail. I wanted to tell 
you a little about our hard situation. Saved with only 
our undergarments, hungry and thirsty, our whole 
family came back from the city, among the ruins. I, 
your mother, had to go begging wholly naked and 
barefoot to the familiar Kurd neighbors. 1 had only 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 271 

one shirt, which I made into a bag to put the things 
in which I begged from the Kurds. For fifty days I 
have provided thus for the family; after this I com- 
mit it to your care; you know best what to do. We 
have not got even a head covering; nothing to carry 
the water home in from the fountain. It is the month 
of December, and you know well it is the first month 
of the winter; we have two and a half months yet be- 
fore coming to the spring. We are all of us very, very, 
hungry. Those Turks who were so friendly before 
have turned now not to know us, they don't even give 
a penny. We have no hope from anywhere else; if 
you do not come to our help, we shall perish ! perish ! 
perish ! We, with all the villagers shall die. Be- 
hold the description of our misery. Read this to all 
the villagers that are there with you, and notify them 
that all of you must be the helpers and deliverers of our 
people, especially to us who are all helpless and on the 
verge of starvation. Send us help. I remain 

" Your affectionate mother." 

MALATIA AND ITS HARDSHIPS. 

Malatia is located about midway between Marash 
and Harpoot, a little distance from the Euphrates 
river. More fruit is raised in and about there than 
in any other section of Armenia. The assortment is 
large, but the apples and pears are especially fine, per- 
haps better than those of any part of the world. 
It has about 20,000 population, two-thirds being 
Mohammedans, and one-third Armenians. The 
private letters which have been received from there 
do not state, and cannot state how many Armenians 



272 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

have been killed during the period of the present perse- 
cutions, and it is not likely there ever will be any cor- 
rect estimate of them. The region has suffered im- 
mensely, and letters from there reveal a most distress- 
ing condition of affairs. The people were plundered 
and violated in every conceivable way until there was 
nothing more for the time being for the fiends to wreak 
their cruelty upon. 

Letters from Malatia. 

Malatia, Dec. 22, 1895. 
My Very Dear Son : — 

We greet you with the fondest greeting, and it 
is the desire of our hearts that the good Lord should 
enable us to see each other again in this mortal flesh. 
In regard to ourselves, as to how we were, and what 
we are doing. We are all alive yet with our whole 
family, no loss of persons from among us. Don't 
mourn for us. Others are mourning for their loved 
ones. Though in truth the grief and mourning of 
others belong to us also because we are all Armenians, 
one flesh and blood, and we all belong to the same 
nation. 

I did not go to bring up the bride of our neigh- 
bor's with the rest, so I was at home when the mas- 
sacre began. You remember that there was a well 
in that quarter. The Turks killed the bridegroom, 
his brother, the priest, together with sixty-five other 
men, and threw them into that well. In another 
house they bumed_ seventy-five men, and in still an- 
other forty-five men. Finally, I am unable to de^ 
scribe with my pen all that passed in those days and 
hours. 




■■ Moiisa Beg vfas specialty reworded for Ids outrageous aB«J brutal tTeaXiv-ent 
of this girl. Il«kJltel her father by thriistlag re<!-liot wires into Ms Ijodj, 




:..tnimim"ii t,' D .!li ti/ "i ■ ^trf'«Wisi«;fl4sn Turks, jteid 



j!^ 



I! t: ifi'^i ( .• ■'! viii Qt tiU' Ufiti ^ rifiVj'.-itisu^t 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 273 

May the Lord preserve your dear lives, and give 
you peace and happiness. Your father. 

Another Letter. 

Malatia, Dec. 22, 1895. 
My Dear Friend : — 

I received your very kind letter about a week ago, 
for which I thank you very much, and I read it with 
great pleasure. But we do not get the boys' letters 
regularly. It is nearly two months since the disas- 
ter occurred, and in that time I have received but one 
letter. The other day an Armenian handed me a let- 
ter that was torn into nearly a hundred pieces. I 
put all the pieces together and read it. It was also from 
the boys, and I read and was very glad. I^Tow I will 
try to give you a little information about us. The 
first Monday I did not go to the market, for from Sat- 
urday I got somehow suspicious that there was some- 
thing impending over the city, and I did not let father 
go either. My brother was to accompany those who 
were going to bring up a bride for my brother's part- 
ner in business. While my brother was at the wed- 
ding house, they sent him on an errand to go and get 
a few policemen to accompany them as protection in 
bringing the bride. Just at the moment when my 
brother was on his way to the station-house, he sees 
there was confusion in the market; then he drops the 
matter of bringing a policeman, but goes to the mar- 
ket and closes the shop, and then turns towards home 
in a hurry. While on his way, some men fired at 
him several times, but fortunately he was not hurt. 
He comes as far as to one of our neighbors, and there 
drops down exhausted. They came and brought me 
the news that he was there. Then I plucked up all 
the courage I could, and went and brought, him home. 
An hour or so after, the Turks came and besieged that 
18 



274 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

same quarter and killed about thirty persons. On 
Tuesday, very early in tlie morning, we left every- 
thing, house, property, and goods, and just to save our 
lives we fled to the new church, and I don't know 
what became of the rest. We remained there in the 
church until Friday; after that we came out of the 
church, being a little assured of safety, and have been 
living on the provision that the government allowed 
us, but that also ceased a few days since. When we 
came back home again we did not find a single thing; 
they had swept off everything. We brought a mat- 
ting from, some place, and six of us sleep in one bed. 
Some sleep on hay. May you never have to endure 
such hardships. This incident seems worse than the 
earthquake or the cholera, or the fire. May the good 
Lord preserve us from things worse than these. Our 
life is not worth the living. We don't know the exact 
number of the killed. Malatia is altogether a ruin. 
It is a worse ruin than the city of Anni, and even worse 
than Sassoun. It is beyond conception, one cannot 
keep account of it. May the Lord write it down in 
his own account book, so that he should take the ac- 
count in the day of judgment. 

Please excuse all my shortcomings, because I am 
out of myself. Our love to all the friends over there. 

Yours truly, 

P. S. Please tell the boys to know the value of 
money, and not waste neither their time nor their mo- 
ney in vain. Por we have no one to look for but to 
God in heaven, and after Him to them on earth. For 
the value of a son is known in the time of adversity, 
when he helps his elders or parents. Let them not yet 
send any money, for there are no brokers left where 
we can change it. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 275 
THE CITY OF SIVAS AND THE ATROCITIES. 

Sivas is the seat of the vilayet or province of Sivas. 
The Governor-General of that province resides there. 
The population is about 30,000; one-third are Chris- 
tian Armenians, and there are many Armenian Chris- 
tian towns and villages round about, so that, if the 
Armenians are not more numerous than the Moham- 
medans, they equal them in number. Sivas is a mis- 
sionary station, and during the atrocities, the Protes- 
tant Armenian pastor also was killed. His name was 
Garabet-Kilitjiam, one of the most gifted ministers of 
the gospel, my personal friend and successor. After 
I resigned my pastorate at Talas, Cesarea, he succeeded 
me. He was offered the choice of accepting Moham- 
medanism, but refused it, and then he was martyred. 

In the city and province of Sivas during the recent 
atrocides about 10,000 Armenians were killed, and 
many villages and towns were plundered and de- 
stroyed. 

The following is a press dispatch: — 

London, Nov. 16, 1895.— The representative of the United 
Press at Constantinople reports, under the date of November 
loth, that at six o'elocli, on the evening of November 14tli, 
M. A. Jewett, United States consul at Sivas, sent a telegram 
to United States Minister Terrell informing him that in the 
disturbances which had taken place at Sivas, eight hundred 
Armenians and ten Turks had been killed, and that, ac- 
cording to official reports, a large body of Kurds were then 
approaching the town. Mr. Jewett gave no details of the 
disorders, but the discrepancy in the figures shows that the 
Turkish allegations that the Armenians were the aggressors 
are absolutely untrue, and that the Armenians were deliber- 
ately massacred. 



276 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

From a private letter from Sivas, Nov. 21, 1895. 

'' The air was full of wild rumors — but we could 
get at nothing that seemed to have any substantial 
truthful basis. Dr. Jewett — our consul — was on 
the alert. He interviewed the Governor-General, — 
and asked for protection for us, for the U. S. A. vice- 
consul, for our schools, and for the American Consu- 
late. These were cheerfully promised, and the next 
day, Tuesday, ISTovember 12th, at midday, like a cy- 
clone, Sivas was smitten, as I wrote you last week. 
Mr. P. and I had steadfastly refused to believe that 
such violence could take place in our city, and we were 
totally unprepared for the shock. Our walls had 
been taken down, — that is, our front wall had been, — 
a distance of 125 feet. Our girls' school-building 
had been cut off seven and a half feet on the south- 
west corner, and both our schools and our dwellings 
were in an entirely unprotected state. The day of 
the terrible disaster, the city water was cut off from 
our street, and for several days the heat was unusual 
for this time of the year. The dead were buried on 
Thursday, under the direction of the government, 
in the Armenian graveyard, a priest of the Gregorian 
faith being present to offer a prayer. 

" Our good native pastor was in the market to at- 
tend to the interests of his people, when, at a given 
signal, a tribe of mountaineers, known as Karsluks 
suddenly fell upon the Armenians with clubs, and 
were soon followed by Circassians and local Mussul- 
men, with knives and pistols; quickly and lastly the 
police force and regular soldiers joined in with their 
Martini rifles. It was a combined onslaught of four 
other races against the Armenians. It has been de- 
clared that the Armenians were in armed revolt 
against the government, and this was doue to put down 
the revolution. When the attack was made against 



THE TURKISH ATROCTTIES IN ARMENIA. 277 

them, we fail to find that there was any armed re- 
sistance, so far as we can learn. If the Armenians 
were premeditating an armed attack upon the Mus- 
snlmen, we never could find it out, but that proves 
nothing here or there, as missionaries are well known 
not to sympathize with revolutionists. 

" Badveli Garabed died a martyr; his life being 
offered him three times if he would deny Christ. He 
bore noble testimony before many witnesses, then 
fell in their presence, sealing his faith and testimony 
with his blood. 

" Yours affectionately," 

Furtlier Information about Sivas by the Missionaries who wrote to 
tlieir friends Nov. 12, 1895. 

" The cyclone which struck on the 12th reached 
Marsovan on the 15th. Don't be deceived by any of 
the silly government statements which attribute all 
these massacres to the Armenians. It was a deliber- 
ate plan on the part of the government to punish the 
Armenians. The Sultan was irritated because he 
was forced to give them reforms, so he has had 7,000 
Armenians killed to show his power since he signed 
the scheme of reform. 

'^ The killing was permitted to go on here all 
last week; forty-six were killed Saturday, I^ovember 
16; sixteen on Sunday, and many more on the follow- 
ing day. The total number killed is about 1,200 Ar- 
menians and ten Turks. 

" It is a fact that the Kaimakam of Gurun tele- 
graphed to the Vali at Sivas, saying in effect that there 
is not an Armenian left at Gurun. The Armenians 
at Sivas made no resistance, but at Gurun they tried 
to defend themselves from the butchery, and suffered 
the worse for it. 

" In order to have an excuse for attacking the Ar- 



278 ' ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

menians at Sivas, the government smashed the win- 
dows of Turkish shops and charged it to the Armen- 
ians. Food is scarce, and everything was carried off 
from the Armenian shops. There will be terrible 
suffering all over this country.'' 

Another letter from Sivas, according to the Con- 
stantinople correspondent, gives many details which 
all go to show that the whole movement against the 
Armenians is directly traceable to the head of the 
Turkish government, who proclaimed that his great 
desire was to keep always in view, " The safeguard 
of the rights of the people, and the maintenance of 
public confidence." 

'^ What cruel mockery; Trebizond, Erzeroum, 
Bitlis, Marash, Harpoot and how many more towns 
rise up and point the finger of everlasting scorn and 
indignation to fix on Abdul Hamid Khan the stigma 
of everlasting infamy ! The deliberate murder of 
thousands of innocent and industrious men, the ex- 
posure of ten times that number of women and chil- 
dren and aged persons to absolute degradation and 
destitution, will justify the name of Kanukiar — the 
Bloodletter — which has been applied to the head 
authority of the Empire." 

The Riot in Sivas. 

" Last week, Monday, November 11, was one of 
the loveliest days Sivas ever had. Although there 
were many rumors of trouble afloat, we could get at 
nothing which seemed to have any greater founda- 
tion than the fear that something might happen. 

" I went unattended to the boys' school. On my 
way to school that afternoon, I met a group of ex- 
cited soldiers. They said nothing to me, but their 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 279 

strangely excited manner impressed me as being out 
of the usual order. When I began my class work, 
the boys, instead of answering my questions, broke 
forth with inquiries. They wanted to know if the 
soldiers were going to shoot them, and if they were 
going to be killed. That was the rumor afloat. I 
hushed them up as best I could, and told them it was 
not right to speak of such things. I succeeded in 
quieting the children, but went home full of anx- 
iety. 

'• The next day, Tuesday, a large gang of Turkish 
workmen gathered in our street to continue the public 
work of building up some walls which had been torn 
down at the Vali's orders, for the purpose of widen- 
ing the street. Armenian carpenters were employed 
on our building, iiothing out of the ordinary oc- 
curred until the workmen's ' bread time/ about 11 
o'clock, was finished. 

" Then all the Osmanli (Turkish) gang sudden- 
ly raised a hue and cry; each one grabbed a pick or 
club, anything he could lay his hands on, and a wild 
rush was made for the market-place. The air was 
filled with yells of the furious men, who rushed along 
madly. 

" The Protestant pastor remained at home on the 
day before, but on Tuesday was in a shop when the 
signal for the raid was given. A perfect cyclone of 
marauders rushed in and clubbed the unsuspecting 
men in the stores to death before they could offer any 
resistance. After the outbreak there was not a sin- 
gle Armenian place of business left in the market. 

" ]^o list of the dead was made out, and none 
could be. The victims were all buried in an immense 
trench in the Armenian burying-ground two days 
afterwards. There were between seven and eight 
hundred bodies thus buried." 



280 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

MARSOVAN AND THE ATROCITIES THERE. 

Marsovan has 25,000 population, 10,000 being Ar- 
menians, and the remainder Mohammedans. Mar- 
sovan is one of the greatest stations of the American 
missionaries. Anatoha College is there ; a theological 
seminary for young men; and a seminary for girls. 
The writer was the pastor of the Evangelical Ar- 
menian church there till he was banished, for the 
reasons stated in the sketch of him. After this the 
Turks burned the girls' school; they tried to burn 
the boys' college building also, but did not succeed. 
Finally they several times massacred the Armenian 
Christians, and forced many to accept Mohammedan- 
ism. 

I have not been able to get exact information about 
the number of the martyred Christians in Marsovan, 
but it is believed that in that missionary station about 
1,000 were massacred altogether. The richest men 
among the congregation were murdered, and so 
thoroughly plundered that their children are left 
wholly destitute; and the lives of the missionaries are 
in danger. 

CESAREA (KAISERIEH). 

The writer is well acquainted with this city, as he 
was the pastor at Talas, only three miles away, for 
years. It has about 50,000 population, one-third 
being Christians; a few hundred Greeks only, but 
more than 15,000 Armenians. The richest and 
ablest Armenians live in that city, or in Constantino- 
ple, and came from there; its people are the leaders of 




WA'IEf: VEhhLUn 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 281 

the Armenian nation, both in business and intellect. 
For the story of its foundation, see " The Haigazian 
Dynasty/' under King Aram. It is a typical Ar- 
menian city ; and has several great Armenian churches, 
with flourishing schools. There is a beautiful evangel- 
ical church also, and it is a great missionary station, 
with several American missionaries, and several mis- 
sionary schools, both for boys and for girls. 

The Rev. Dr. Avedis Yeretzian, one of the great- 
est of scholars, teachers, and preachers, and my per- 
sonal friend, was martyred in that city during the 
recent atrocities. He was shot dead in his own house 
by a Mohammedan mob, then his wife was shot, then 
his son, and the remainder of his children were cap- 
tured by the mob. About 3,000 Armenians were 
killed and wounded there, besides the loss of property. 
The Mohammedan population of the city is very 
savage; side by side in the same city, the Christians 
are rich, refined, intelligent, and the Mohammedans 
poor, lazy, sensual, and cruel. I give here two let- 
ters from Cesarea. 

A Private Letter from a Girl. 

Cesarea, Turkey, Dec. 31, 1895. 
My Dear Brother: — 

Before the massacre, everybody was in fear; sev- 
eral families would gather in one house to protect 
themselves, and all the Armenian stores were closed 
for twenty days; but as the government guaranteed 
that there would be no danger, and told everybody to 
attend to their business, and open their shops, they 
did so. It was the 16th of I^ovember, on Saturday, 



282 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

that all opened their shops again, and the transaction 
of business commenced in full force. At 2 p. m., at 
the doors of the market, bugles sounded, and several 
hundred bashi-bazook [irregular soldiers] were at the 
doors of the bazaar, every one of them having in his 
hands stilettos, swords, yataghans, guns, revolvers, 
hammers, axes, hatchets, sickles, poniards, daggers, 
and heavy sticks with twenty or thirty nails fastened 
to them. Then they blew horns, the signal to start 
the massacre. Cries were heard, " First kill, cut, and 
butcher the Giavours; the property already belongs 
to us; cut, cut, kill, don't care for plundering at pres- 
ent." Then they rushed into the market and slaugh- 
tered all they met. Oh ! you can imagine what 
became of those who fell into the hands of those brutes. 
Alas ! alas ! how unspeakable ! They butchered 
them like cattle ; cut their heads off like onions. Some 
tried to run, but could not, others tried to escape, but 
were brought back and killed. The bazaar was full 
of dead bodies. People hid themselves among the 
goods, and in the cellars, and were saved ; ten or fifteen 
days after, people were found there in a starving con- 
dition, not having dared to come out. They killed in 
Avsharaghus factory thirty-eiglit men; in Kayanjilar 
everybody was slain. After the massacre was over, 
the governor, Ferick Pasha, sent soldiers around, and 
they discovered many people hiding, and took them 
back to the government house (seray), examined their 
pockets for revolvers and knives, and not finding any, 
the governor sent them to their homes. 

They plundered the bazaar of all its goods, and 
then, oh, my Lord ! they rushed upon the houses and 
upon the women's Turkish baths. . . . I can- 
not describe this; when I think of it, my whole body 
trembles. The people in the baths were killed and 
wounded, and they carried away the young girls; every 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 283 

one was killed that tliey came in contact with. The 
houses were plundered of all their contents, and build- 
ings were torn down, and houses full of people were 
burned. Oh, how terrible ! What I say you can- 
not imagine to be so; you may think it is a dream, 
because your eyes have not seen nor your ears heard 
the screams, wailings, weeping, shrieks, and groan- 
ing; that even our forefathers have not heard, but of 
which our ears are full day and night. My brother 
was in the bazaar, but fortunately he had occupied 
a private room, where he was safe. 

Some of the kidnapped girls were brought back 
by the government, but most of them were wounded, 
and half dead from fright. Thank God, we are safe, 
but we are not better than those girls. We are in 
Mr. Wingate's house, where many lives were saved. 
He carried beds and clothing to the people, who were 
stripped of all. A few Mussulmans also protected 
in their homes some Armenians; for example, James 
Imurogiov, Go j aid Ogloo. 

Yeretzian Avedis Effendi's house is ruined, him- 
self, his son, and wife are killed, and the rest, five of 
them, are carried away. Our block and their block 
is ruined. They butchered Avjinury, Yuzukji, Dirn- 
hitza and carried away her three daughters, but later 
on brought two of them back. I mentioned them, as 
you know. They also butchered Yuzikji Apraham 
and his wife Gaga Haji, Gemerlkli Ohanness, Mus- 
taamelji Gobra, Terrzi Artin, Erzurumli, servant boy. 
Avedis Ago and his daughter were carried away. 
Gussi Hamimon's mother is low. Oh, pity the intol- 
erable many, many, I cannot write by my pen, or de- 
scribe with my tongue the terrible sufferings. O 
Lord, have mercy upon us ! To my knowledge there 
were five hundred killed, six hundred wounded ; many 
are dying from their wounds and fright. Eight hun- 



284 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

dred houses are plundered, and the tenants flocked 
to the churches. I cannot write one hundredth part 
of what happened. 

We are lost, lost, ruined, no work, no business, 
every one of us looking for safety. Happy, happy be 
you that are in America and have nothing to fear. 
They say to me, you ought to be with your brother 
in America now. If the way was opened, everybody 
would like to go. 

If you are not in good circumstances there, you 
must feel satisfied and give the thanks to God always. 
We also have to thank God that we are still living. 
It is one month now that we have not been able to 
go out in the streets. O Lord, help us, Oh ! what 
shall we come to ? Oh, my dear brother, if you can 
help us in any way please do so; make lectures, get 
some help; everybody is dying of hunger. I cannot 
write any longer; we leave all to your conscience. I 
do not write this letter only to you, but to all. Do 
whatever you can for us, we are in a terrible condi- 
tion. I thank you, my brother, for the money that 
you sent to me, thank you very much. 

We send our best regards to every one of you. I 
wrote this letter with the tears in my eyes. We beg 
of you to write us good letters. Yaham, the little 
boy, is in good health. We are all well including 

Your sister, 

Letter from Cesarea. 

Cesarea, I^oy. 20, 1895. — While the Armenians 
were engaged in their business, as usual, the Turkish 
mob fell upon them, killing 600 defenseless men and 
wounding 1,000 more. The mob divided into four 
parts. The first part plundered the stores, the second 
looted the houses, the third secured the maidens and 
young brides, while the fourth, fiends incarnate, at- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IK ARMENIA. 285 

tacked the public baths. These human devils killed 
six naked women in the presence of the others, snatch- 
ing their babies from their arms and bayoneting the 
mothers. The shrieks and agonizing cries of these 
poor creatures made no impression upon the minds of 
the savage Turks, who laughed at their death agonies. 
They then took some of the young girls, who were 
with their mothers at the bath, and dragged them 
naked, by their feet, through the streets, followed by 
a jeering and hooting mob. 

The Turks who attacked the houses then killed 
them and fired the houses. The cries of the women, 
mingled with the hoarse shouts of the Turks, can never 
be forgotten. The men who survived the sword were 
discovered, taken to the magistrate and searched, but 
no arms were found in their possession, not even a 
knife. When released, and allowed to return to their 
homes, they were confronted by a most ghastly pic- 
ture. Some found their wives dead, others horribly 
mutilated; daughters were bleeding. My hand 
almost fails me to write the awful particulars. It took 
three or four days to remove the bodies of the dead 
with forty carts. Add to this the want, the desola- 
tion. Oh, my Grod, for how long, how long ! Where 
are those Christian powers who saved African slaves ? 
Where are those Christians who advocated brotherly 
love and mercy, sending their missionaries to teach 
us ? Are they deaf to our piercing cry ? 

AINTAB AND ITS HORRORS. 

The writer is well acquainted with Aintab, and 
some of his best friends live there, if they have not 
been killed. It has about 40,000 population, one- 
third of it being Armenian. There are great schol- 
ars among them. Central Turkey College is there. 



286 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

It is an American college, but most of the professors 
are native Armenians, graduates of Yale College. 
There is also a woman's American College and a hos- 
pital. The Evangelical Armenians are the strongest; 
they have three large churches. They are con- 
sidered to be the richest Evangelical Armenians in 
Turkey. But hundreds of them were killed, wounded 
and plundered; in all about 4,000 of the Armenian 
population were killed. 

A Letter from Aintab, Nommber 23, 1895. 

Aintab has had its baptism of blood and fire, and 
we sit in grief among ruins. We had been hoping that 
the many things which seemed to combine for our 
security would save our city from the fury of the 
storm which is desolating so many places about us. 
Our Christian community is large (about one-fourth 
of the whole population), and the Christians, as a 
class, are exceptionally intelligent and influential; 
the leading Moslems of the city are intelligent and 
able men, and have shown themselves to a degree 
tolerant and even friendly to Christians; the gov- 
ernor has seemed disposed, beyond most Turkish of- 
ficials, to respect the rights of Christians. There is 
a considerable number of foreign residents sure to 
be Avitnesses of any violence done to Christians. The 
college and hospital have for years commanded a 
powerful influence in the city; the hospital especially 
has the good-will of all classes; the college, its stu- 
dents and teachers were no doubt regarded by many 
with much suspicion on account of the latent antag- 
onisms inevitably existing between progressive and 
conservative ideas, but personal relations were, so 
far as I know, always friendly. Another thing in our 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 287 

favor has been the fact that the Christians of Aintab 
have given very little countenance to the ultra-revo- 
lutionists, who have no doubt provoked trouble in 
some places. Relying upon all these things, we had 
for nearly three weeks been hearing reports of fighting 
and massacre at Zeitoon, Marash, and Oorf a, and other 
places, with comparatively little anxiety for ourselves. 
It is true we were frequently hearing of fearful 
threats and warnings of what the Moslems were pre- 
paring to do in Aintab, but we had got hardened to 
that sort of thing, and regarded it as largely the in- 
vention of cowardly roughs to terrify those whom they 
did not dare attack. The most alarming thing in the 
situation was that the government was disarming the 
Christians, and at the same time giving out rifles and 
ammimition to Moslems. This, however, was at- 
tributed to an exaggerated fear of a Christian rising, 
of which they profess to have information. 

Meantime the Moslems liable to military service 
were called out and equipped and hurried off toward 
Zeitoon, where it was reported that the Christians 
were in rebellion. This, no doubt, was the occasion 
of intense irritation, and both the soldiers and their 
friends were saying, '^ If we must fight Christians we 
will begin with those close at hand." Under these 
circumstances the native Christians became very 
anxious, and made such preparations for defense as 
circumstances permitted, at the same time keeping as 
quiet as possible, and avoiding all controversy and al- 
tercations with the Moslems. The government in- 
creased the police force in the city, and held a con- 
siderable force of troops at the barracks near the 
town, and the governor and principal men seemed to 
be making much effort to quiet the people. Several 
considerable tumults had occurred and been promptly 
suppressed without bloodshed; so day after day 



288 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

dragged on, each hour increasing the hope that we 
should tide over the crisis. 

Saturday morning, November 16, more than 
three weeks after the first riot in Marash, at about 
half past seven, just as we were rising from break- 
fast, our people came in with white faces saying, " The 
day of judgment has come in the city." We hastened 
to the door, and sure enough the mob was at work; 
all the west and south part of the city seemed to be 
in an uproar; crowds of people rushing in every 
direction, roofs covered with excited men, women, and 
children ; the strange mingling of cries of fear, anger, 
and defiance, with occasional gun and pistol shots, 
made an exhibition of the most fearful tumult and 
confusion. 

Already troops were hurrying forward, and soon 
a company of some sixty soldiers were stationed in 
front of the Girls' Seminary, with pickets out to 
cover the approaches to the hospital and college. Dr. 
Shepherd and Mr. Sanders mounted their horses and 
hastened to the hospital and seminary, where they 
remained until the rioting ceased. The college is 
about half a mile west of the seminary and hospital, 
and commands a full view of these buildings, and of 
the whole west end of the city, where most of the 
rioting occurred. 

What we, who were looking on, saw from this 
point was the narrow streets densely crowded with in- 
tensely excited people, now and then a rush made upon 
some house or gate, the rally of defenders on the 
roofs, amonss; whom women were often foremost, using 
stones, clubs, and sometimes guns and pistols as best 
they could. Sometimes the attack is beaten off, and 
the assailants withdraw to organize a new assault, 
sometimes a gate or wall is broken down, and then 
the noise of conflict subsides and the work of mas- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 289 

sacre and plunder begins. Later on, long lines of 
people moving off to their homes laden with plunder, 
and later still the flames and smoke rising from the 
burning houses. 

What we heard was the indescribable roar of the 
mob, pierced by the sharp reports of pistols and guns, 
with now and then shrieks of agony and fear, and 
shouts of defiance or command, and over all, and most 
horrible of all, the loud shrill '' Zullghat," (wedding 
cry) very like the cry of our northern loons prolonged 
and sharpened, raised by Turkish women crowded on 
their roofs and cheering on their men to attack. The 
massacre and pillage began in the markets, and in 
those parts of the city where Christians' houses, sur- 
rounded by Moslem neighbors, offered easy points of 
attack; these places having been looted, the mob 
moved on towards what are known as the Christian 
quarters of the town. There the resistance became 
more obstinate ; in two of these quarters the old street 
gates were still in use, by shutting which, the district 
enclosed becomes a small fortified community capable 
of making a strong resistance to an organized mob. 
The assailants were at last beaten off and arrested. 

Under such general conditions the storm of mob 
violence raged on without much abatement till the 
middle of the afternoon, when the tumult gradually 
subsided, and night at last brought quiet, except in 
the vicinity of burning houses, where the uproar went 
on till near midnight. By morning, arrangements 
seemed to have been made which gave us hope that 
order would be maintained; the guard for our mis- 
sion premises had been increased, and the soldiers 
posted at intervals aroimd the Christian quarters of 
the city. Very early in the morning of the 17th, 
crowds, evidently eager to share the plunder, were 
seen hurrying towards the city from every direction. 
19 " 



290 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

The soldiers met and turned tliem back, and even 
beat some of them and chased them off. They soon 
returned, however, increased in numbers, and being 
joined by friends from the city, became very turbu- 
lent. About noon we saw through our glass an of- 
ficer, apparently a captain, ride forward into a mob, 
and address them at some length; we could not hear 
what he said, but immediately, without any show of 
opposition from any one, the whole crowd came pell- 
mell with the soldiers into the city. This was at 
the southwest corner of the town, and immediately 
under our eves. At the same time much the same 
thing was occurring at the northwest corner; then for 
an hour chaos was let loose again, and the horrors of 
the previous day were repeated, only that this time 
the Christians were prepared, and, being in a strong 
position, were generally able to beat off their assail- 
ants. At one point of the line of defense were 
a few Moslem houses, and we were delighted to learn 
that the men heartily and bravely joined in the de- 
fense with their neighbors; the gallantry of this act 
was somewhat marred, howcA^er, by the demand which 
they made the next day for a large sum of money for 
their service; these men actually demanded and re- 
ceived about $5 apiece for this neighborly help. 

When it became apparent that the mob could not 
force their way into the places held by the besieged, 
the soldiers, perhaps having received new orders, re- 
sumed a show of activity, fired a few shots into the 
air, and drove the mob out of the city and dispersed 
them; this is the last serious fighting that has oc- 
curred up to the present time, though local tumults 
have broken out frequently, several houses have been 
pillaged and burned, and two Christians' at least were 
shot while being conducted through the streets by 
soldiers. Strict military rule is now established, and 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 291 

special care is taken to safeguard the lives of property 
of foreigners. We are kept under very close re- 
striction, and not allowed to visit the city except for 
special objects, and then under a strong guard. The 
amount of damage we can only estimate; as nearly as 
we can judge, the figures will be about 200 killed, 
400 wounded, nearly all the Christian shops and 250 
houses pillaged, and a considerable number burned. 
Some 1,000 men who in the first panic took refuge in 
khans and mosques are still held as prisoners, for 
purposes which we can only surmise. 

P. S. Dec. 17. Quiet has for the most part 
been maintained under strict military rule. 'No Chris- 
tian can yet venture out without armed escort, and 
there are not wanting signs that there is waiting and 
even expectation of another signal from above. The 
government, however, seems to be trying to restore 
order and confidence. We are glad to say that we 
have heard of no cases of special violence or abuse 
offered to women. 

The above-named prisoners have been gradually 
released, till now there are only some six of the princi- 
pal Christians still in confinement. The number of 
killed just now must be set down at over 400; the 
butchery in the markets where the first attacks began 
far exceeded our belief. A great number of bodies 
were thrown together into some distilleries, and these 
buildings set on fire and burned to the ground, thus 
removing for a time much of the terrible evidence of 
the extent of the massacre. The attack being made in 
the morning and beginning in the markets, it happened 
that the killed are about wholly from the " bread-win- 
ners '' among the Christians. As a result, there are 
now in Aintab more than 4,000 people dependent on 
charity for daily bread, and most of those to whom 
they would naturally look for aid are utterly impov- 



292 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

erished; the outlook for tlie winter is simply appall- 
ing. We appeal for aid speedily in the name of hu- 
manity. 

THE CITY OF BIRIJIK AND THE ATROCITIES. 

The city of Birijik is on the shores of the Euphra- 
tes; it has a beautiful appearance from the other side 
of the river. The Mohammedan population there are 
very wild and ignorant. 

The Massacre at Birijik {Prom nee of Aleppo). 

Birijik had about 300 Christian houses, or say 
about 1,000 souls, in the midst of the Mussulman pop- 
ulation of about 9,000 souls. After the massacre at 
Oorfa on the 27th of October, 1895, the authorities 
at Birijik told the Armenians that the Muslims were 
afraid of them, and that therefore they (the Armen- 
ians) must surrender to the government any arms 
that they possessed. This was done, the most rigid 
search being instituted to assure the authorities that 
nothing whatever in the way of arms remained in the 
hands of the Armenians. This disarmament caused 
no little anxiety to the Armenians, since the Muslim 
population was very generally armed, and was con- 
stantly adding to its arms. In fact, during the months 
of November and December the Christians have kept 
within their houses because the danger of appearing 
upon the streets was very great. 

Troops were called out by the government to pro- 
tect the people. Since the soldiers had come to pro- 
tect the Christians, the Christians were required to 
furnish animals for them to carry their goods. Then 
they were required to furnish them beds and carpets 
to make them more comfortable. Finally they were 
required to furnish the soldiers with food, and they 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 293 

were reduced to a state bordering on destitution by 
these increasing demands. 

The end came on the first of January, 1896, when 
the news of the massacre of several thousands of Chris- 
tians at Oorfa by the soldiers appointed to guard them 
incited the troops at Birijik to imitate this crime. The 
assault on the Christian houses commenced at about 
nine o'clock in the morning and continued until night- 
fall. The soldiers were aided by the Muslims of the 
city in the terrible work. The object at first seemed 
to be mainly plunder, but after the plunder had been 
secured the soldiers seemed to make a systematic 
search for men, to kill those who were unwilling to 
accept Mohammedanism. The cruelty used to force 
men to become Muslims was terrible. In one case 
the soldiers found some twenty people, men, women, 
and children, who had taken refuge in a sort of cave. 
They dragged them out and killed all the men and 
boys, because they would not become Muslims. After 
cutting down one old man who had thus refused, they 
put live coals upon his body, and as he was writhing 
in torture, they held a Bible before him, and asked 
him mockingly to read them some of the promises in 
which he had trusted. Others were thrown into the 
river while still alive, after having been cruelly 
wounded. The women and children of this party 
were loaded up like goods upon the backs of porters 
and carried off to the houses of Muslims. Christian 
girls were eagerly sought after, and much quarreling 
occurred over the question of their division among 
their captors. Every Christian house except two, 
claimed to be owned by Turks, was plundered. Wme- 
ty-six men are known to have been killed, or about 
half of the adult Christian men. The others have 
become Mussulmans to save their lives, so that there 
is not a single Christian left in Birijik to-day. The 



294 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Armenian Churcli has been made into a mosque, and 
the Protestant Church into a Medresse Seminary. 
—[Dr. Dillon. 

OORFA AND ITS ATROCITIES. 

Qorfa, the old Ur of the Chaldees, where Abra- 
ham, the old patriarch of the Bible, was born, was 
called Edessa in the time of Christ. I have told the 
story of King Abgar and his conversion in the his- 
torical part of this book. It had about 50,000 pop- 
ulation, about 20,000 of whom were Armenians be- 
fore the massacres. Out of that number 8,000 were 
slaughtered, according to Mr. Fitzmaurice, the British 
vice-consul who returned from Oorfa to Constantino- 
ple on March 21. The Evangelical Armenian pastor, 
the Rev. Hagop Abuhayatian, was also martyred. I 
knew him personally. He was educated in Germany, 
a man of great ability; a great scholar, and a great and 
forcible preacher. 

A Letter from Oorfa, Jan. 28, 1896. 
Dear Friend: — 

Your only remaining brother sends you a letter, 
but no letters can begin to explain the sad state of this 
city. The massacre of Dec. 28 and 29 has left 
all homes except Catholics and Syrians entirel.y 
empty of any comforts. Many families have not 
one bed even; all cooking utensils, clothing, bed- 
ding, carpets, etc., were taken. Most have a little 
zakhere left, though some have not that. We are 
feeding about 175 of the most needy, and more will 
come to us every week. The loss by death is between 
4,000 and 5,000. Our pastor, the Rev. Hagop Ab- 
ouhayatian, Dr. Kivorc, and brother Harotoun, Sar- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 295 

kis Yarjebed Cliiibiikiaii and brother and son, Gar abed 
Houmian, Habbourjou Avedis and brother Sarkis, old 
sexton Garabed and other sexton Bogos, Ma jar Kiv- 
orc and brother Bogos and Berber Monofa and two 
sons, Eskejiyan Marderos, Zarman Roomian's three 
sons, are some of the dead. In all, our Protestant 
dead are 115. Some of our people perished in the 
Gregorian Church, where 1,500 or 2,000 went for 
refuge Saturday night, and on Sunday were mur- 
dered or burned, very few escaping. It was the most 
awful of all the terrible events of those two days. 

Thank God, two hundred and forty were saved 
by coming to me; sixty of them were men. I could 
not keep the men in my house or yard, because it was 
forbidden by the guards, but I hid them elsewhere, 
and fed them for three or four days. The govern- 
ment carefully protected me, and killed as many of 
my friends as possible. We have our house and all 
the schoolrooms full of the wounded and the most 
forlorn. 

Our Oorfa redeefs leave to-morrow; we have 
new soldiers now for guard of the city, and Christians 
especially. Oorfa redeefs have been poor guards, 
and but for them the awful work would not have 
been accomplished. The pastor of Severek, the Rev. 
Marderos, was killed. The Rev. Yartan remains 
alive in Adayaman. Both in Severek and Adayaman 
the number of the killed was very great. In Birijik 
about two hundred were killed, and all remaining have 
become Moslems; they have been circumcised. 

In Aintab about three hundred were killed, 847 
shops plundered and 417 houses. 

During our first disturbance, six to seven hundred 
shops here were plundered, and about 175 houses. 
Then the Christians used arms to defend themselves. 
Since then all arms have been taken by the govern- 



296 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ment from the Christians, and the leaders were forced 
to sign a paper stating the city as "in peace and har- 
mony, thanks to the rulers,'' etc. ; twenty-five signed it, 
and now almost all of these have been killed. Our 
pastor signed for Protestants. 

Only two of the Gregorian priests remain, and 
they are wounded. The bishop is alive, but feeble, 
and does not work publicly now. Their state is very 
sad. We desire your prayers, and the aid of all who 
can give us help by money at this time. 

Sincerely your friend, 

P. S. Your brother asks you to send a letter to 
him by me. 

DIARBEKIR AND ITS STORY. 

Diarbekir (see the historical part for its founda- 
tion) has about 40,000 population. Nearly half of 
them are Christians, but not all of them are Arme- 
nians. There are Chaldeans also. The Armenian 
population numbered about 12,000, of which 5,000 
were killed during the recent atrocities. 

A Letter from Diarhekir, Nov. 20, 1895. 

My Dear Sir; — 

After salutation, I offer my thanks to God that 
after great dangers and tribulation we have reached 
the present time. God's will be done. How can I 
describe the horrors in our city to you ? Can any pen 
or any language tell them ? No, but I shall try to 
write at least a very short description of them. But 
who knows if this letter will reach you, because of the 
letters we write, very few reach you, and very few of 
your letters reach us, since the government has control 
of the mail, and it is the government that persecutes 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 297 

US. Our age is a peculiar age. God look at our 
misery and save us. 

How bappy were those who were martyred on 
JSTov. 1, and have gone to their reward. The atrocities 
which happened here on ISTovember 1, 2, 3, cannot be 
matched in the history of the civilized world. I do 
not think they can be in that of heathen lands, where 
the people are barbarous. 

When I write these lines to you, I hardly know 
what I am writing; the darkness of Egypt covers all 
around me. The former millionaires in the city have 
nothing and are begging bread. Nov. 1 was a 
black day for the Armenians. Many were separated 
from their loved ones, even parents from their chil- 
dren. Many merchants and rich people were so thor- 
oughly plundered and stripped that they are literally 
left naked and hungry, and numbers have been put 
to unspeakable tortures by the Turks and Kurds. 
ISTov. 1 was Friday; it was about noon when the 
Mohammedans came out from their mosques. The 
native Turks, the Kurds who were brought from 
outside, and the soldiers all united, swords, pistols, 
guns, axes, and clubs in their hands, fell upon the Ar- 
menians in the market place or business place, cut 
them to pieces, and plundered what they had. If they 
had been all killed by bullets it would have been a 
sudden death, and easier. But they cut them to pieces 
bit by bit with their axes, and made holes in the bodies 
with their swords. 

When they were killing the Armenians, they were 
repeating the following words, " Bring testimony to 
prophet Mohammed. Our Sultan ordered us to kill 
these heathen dogs, the Armenians.'' The governor 
of the city, and all other officials, with the commander 
of the soldiers, during the time of the atrocities were 
sitting near the great mosque, and while listening to 



298 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the cries and screams of tlie martyred Armenians, 
they were laughing and joking with great pleasure, 
and ordering the soldiers to carry the most valuable 
things to their houses. 

After they had killed everybody, and plundered 
everything in the business place, they turned to the 
residences where Armenians lived, and began to bum 
and kill. Some of the soldiers went to the tops of 
the minarets or high towers, and began to shoot the 
Armenians from there. What a pitiful scene was the 
condition of the Armenian ladies, who were running 
from house to house, from street to street, and were 
shot dead, and their children left orphans. During 
the three days' massacre 4,000 Armenians were killed, 
and the burning of the houses and stores continued 
twenty-four hours. From the gate of the mosque 
to the place where they make saddles, and from the 
twin caravansary to the new caravansary, from 
Sheik Uatad to Melik Ahmed, all the buildings, 1,400 
stores, were burnt and turned to ashes. There are 
other stores also which were not burnt, but everything 
was taken from them. The stores where goldsmiths 
worked every article is taken from. 

When the Armenians go among the ruins to see 
if they can find any article, they are forbidden; and 
if some one manages to find anything, the Moham- 
medans take it from him, cursing him, and calling 
him a heathen dog at the same time. 

When we come to the residences near your house, 
from the house of Darakji to the covered place of 
Sheytan aglou, all are destroyed; from Alo-Pasha 
bath to the Jemil Pasha Palace, all destroyed. But 
the church of the Patrees is not destroyed. St. Sar- 
kis's church was plundered and afterwards burned. 
Before the church Avas burnt, they killed the priests, 
and unspeakable violations took place in the church. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 299 

In that quarter half of the population were killed, 
and the other half, who survive, are naked, bare- 
footed, hungry, and are begging bread. 

E^ow the government pretends to give bread to 
the hungry, but nothing is given, and those who have 
a little give to the others who have nothing; but after 
a few days nothing will be left to eat. Thank the 
Lord, the Kurds went out of the city. But it is twenty 
days now since the massacre took place, and nobody 
dares to go out to the streets. 

We have no stores, no money, nothing to eat. 
Though my personal house was not robbed, but I have 
ten orphans whose fathers and mothers were killed; 
I am taking care of them. We have a little; we shall 
eat that, and see what the Lord will provide. 

From the Rev. Dr. Tomy's house to the church 
of the Evangelical people all the houses were burned. 
Hovhanness's loss is about $1,000. Those who hid 
themselves in Konsol Khan and in the church of the 
Patrees escaped death. But every one who escaped 
was left hungry and thirsty from twelve to fifteen 
days in their places of confinement, because they were 
afraid of going out. 

All the suburbaii towns and villages were totally 
destroyed. In Sevorag both the Armenian church 
and the Evangelical Armenian church were destroyed, 
and only from fifty to one hundred persons were left 
alive. The monastery of Argen was destroyed, and 
the teachers and all the inmates were killed. 

They burnt the church of Ali-Punar and killed 
the priest. From that place only ^ve or ten persons 
were left alive. Your brother at Kitibel with all 
his family are killed, and both the churches are burned. 
They forced the ministers to accept the Mohammedan 
religion; on refusal all three were killed, the Rev. 
Abosh, the Rev. Khidershap, and the priest. All 



BOO ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

wlio were left alive at Kitibel are only about forty 
persons. Afram's brother Kisbo Avith all his family 
were killed. At Renjil nobody is left. At Kara 
Bash only fifty persons are left alive. The village 
of Satou is entirely out of existence. In all this 
province all the towns and villages are destroyed, and 
the people are killed, except the village of Haziro, 
which is not destroyed, and the reason is that a Turk, 
Sevdim Beg, did not permit the Kurds and the Turks 
to destroy it. 

What will become of us hereafter we do not know. 
We are still in danger, but we trust first in God, then 
in such friends as you. My personal damage is $5,000 
and now is the time to show us sympathy and help us. 

If you cannot do it yourself personally, can you 
not tell the people of the United States of America 
to help us and relieve our suffering ? 

Sincerely yours, 

TREBIZOND AND ITS ATROCITIES. 
Trebizond is built on the shores of the Black Sea, 
and is a part of Armenia. The population is estimated 
at 40,000; only 10,000 are Christians; perhaps about 
half of them are Armenians, and nearly half of the 
Armenians were killed and wounded during the recent 
savageries. Mr. Chelton, who was going to Armenia 
to organize consulates, was in Trebizond, saw the mas- 
sacre of Christians, and reported to the government 
at Washington : — 

" Trebizond, Oct. 9, 1895. — Many Armenians 
were killed here in conflicts yesterday with Turks. 
'No attempt was made to stop the massacre of the Ar- 
menians. The Turks were armed, and the number of 
troops present here is small. It is even stated that 



cd 

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p— I 

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THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 301 

soldiers took part in the slaughter, and in the pillage 
which accompanied it.'' 

"London, Oct. 17, 1895.— The ^ Daily :^rews ' 
publishes a dispatch from Constantinople giving a de- 
scription by an eye-witness of the rioting at Trebizond. 
He says that four separate Moslem mobs surrounded 
the Armenian quarters at eleven o'clock on the morn- 
ing of Oct. 8, and then began to pillage the shops. 
Being opposed, they fired on the Armenians, and soon 
a general massacre began. 

" Soldiers joined the mob in firing on the Arme- 
nians and in pillaging the shops and houses. The scene 
continued until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when noth- 
ing was left to pillage and nobody remained to be 
killed. The mob then began to disperse. The better 
class of Turks did their best to protect the lives of the 
Armenians. They sheltered the women and children 
and many men in their houses. The mob attacked 
only the orthodox Armenians, leaving Catholics 
alone." 

An Armenian Massacre. Money Cabled to London by the Local 
Relief Association, Dec. 31, 1895. 

" Recent letters telling of the massacres in various 
Armenian cities contain information that helps to ex- 
plain many points in the awful outbreak of so-called 
Mohammedan fanaticism. A letter from Trebizond 
says : — 

"^Bahri Pasha, governor of Van, started to come 
to Constantinople, and it was learned that he was 
bringing with him four of the fairest young maidens 
of Sassoun, who had been spared in the massacre, 
to make an acceptable present of them to his Sultan. 
This aroused the Armenian people of Trebizond to a 
frenzy, and it was impossible to restrain the young 



302 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

men, the more daring of whom fired upon Bahri 
Pasha, wounding him. But he carried out his mis- 
sion to Constantinople, and was honored with the high- 
est decoration and appointed governor of Adana. 

" ^Afterward the pasha of Trebizond, calling twelve 
of the leading men of the city, demanded that they 
should hand over the young men who attacked the 
governor, and gave them just a few hours in which to 
carry out his orders. The next day they answered him 
that the government had no means of finding the men 
out. 

" ^ When the mails had arrived, and the people 
Avent toward the postofilce, the trumpet was sounded 
three times, and both the soldiers and the mob rushed 
upon the people. It is impossible to describe the 
horror of the scene — the roar of the murderers, like 
that of wild beasts, the shrieks of the women in the 
houses from whose arms their husbands and sons were 
torn and murdered before their eyes, and universal 
tumult, added to the sighs and groans of the dying. 
And this we know is only one, and not even the most 
terrible of the massacres.' " 

BAIBURT. 

^^ Constantinople, Oct. 28, 1895. — Another mas- 
sacre of Armenians, accompanied by the outraging of 
women, is reported to have occurred recently in the 
districts of Baiburt, between Erzeroum and Trebizond. 
According to the news received here, a mob of about 
500 Mussulmans and Lazes, the greater majority of 
whom were armed with Martini-Henry rifles, made an 
attack upon the Armenians inhabiting several villages 
of that vicinity, and set fire to their houses and schools. 
As the Armenians fled in terror from their dwellings 
they were shot down as they ran, and a number of men 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 303 

and women who were captured by the rioters, it is 
added, were fastened to stakes and burned alive. 

'' The Armenian women who fell into the hands 
of the mob, it is asserted, were outraged and brutally 
mutilated. It is also stated that the churches were 
desecrated and pillaged, the cattle, and all the portable 
property of any value belonging to the Armenians 
being carried off by the marauders. During the dis- 
turbance 150 Armenians are reported to have been 
killed. The surviving villages applied for protec- 
tion to the governor of Baiburt, who, after hearing 
their complaint, sent three policemen to the scene of 
the massacre after the slaughter was ended. 

" The Turkish officials, it is claimed^ know the 
ringleaders of the outbreak in the Baiburt district; 
but apparently no steps have been taken to arrest 
them." 

Another Letter from Baiburt. 

" The x^nnenian bishop's vicar was killed, the 
teachers in the schools and many other men and women 
were massacred. Women jumped into open wells 
to escape worse deaths; the villages round about were 
laid waste. 

" Following this was the Erzinghan massacre. On 
Friday, the 25th of October, 1895, the Moslems fin- 
ished their noon hour of prayer by pouring out of the 
mosques and attacking the Armenians in the market, 
who, taken by surprise, were shot and cut down to 
the number of 500; their shops being all plundered." 
(Signed) An American Missionary. 

ERZEROUM. 

This is a large city, almost on the boundary line 
between Russia and Turkey, in Turkish Armenia. It 
has about 60,000 people, one-third of whom are Ar- 



304 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

menians. Several times since the last Turko-Eussian 
war the* Christian Armenians have been massacred 
there by the Turks and the regular soldiers, and dur- 
ing the recent atrocities also there were massacred, and 
in all about 3,000 Armenians were killed. 

Letter from Erzeroum. 

" N'ov. 27, 1895. — The massacre evidently was 
pre-arranged. It began all over the city at the 
same moment. The bugle was sounded, and the sol- 
diers began. They first said, " i^o harm to women or 
children," but they soon passed those bounds. A sol- 
dier who was on guard says the order was given by 
the Porte. We made ready for defense, but it soon 
appeared that the soldiers had cut off the rabble from 
our section, for no mob passed our street. A few men 
tried to open the door, but three well-directed shots 
from our balcony sent them off. 

" The soldiers at the head of our street, apparent- 
ly to guard it, broke open three or four houses within 
a stone's throw of us, and carried off everything 
they found. We saw loads of plunder carried away 
by soldiers. A large number of women engaged in 
the same work. The affair began shortly after noon 
and continued about six hours. One Armenian was 
called to the door by an officer, who professed to be 
friendly, and was cut down in cold blood. Others 
w^ere cruelly murdered. The death roll must be 
towards 300, if not more. Between fifty and sixty 
wounded are in the hospital. 

'' Two hundred were gathered in the Armenian 
cemetery, some horribly mutilated. There must be 
many wounded in the different houses. The pillaged 
houses are to be counted by the hundred, ^o house 
attacked was left until it was emptied of every movable 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 305 

thing. The next day we went to an Armenian home. 
In the middle of a small room (the kitchen), lying 
side by side on a mat, were the bodies of two young 
women, almost naked, a light covering thrown over 
their heads. At the other side of the room a grief- 
stricken woman was trying to make bread from a little 
flour that had been left. She had to borrow utensils 
to do it. She left her work, came forward and re- 
moved the covering from the bodies. They were 
those of young women developing into motherhood. 
The head and face of one was covered with blood, 
and she was also badly wounded in the hand. The 
other had a bullet wound through the abdomen from 
the right side. A companion of these two had been 
carried off, and was lying dead in another house. Their 
lives were sacrificed in defense of honor. 

" We passed through the ruins to other rooms. 
Boxes and furniture were in splinters, windows 
smashed, walls ploughed with bullets. The floor was 
covered with big patches of blood. The bodies lying 
in the cemeteries are simply wrecks of human beings. 
The majority have bullet wounds. ^N^early all have 
bayonet, sword and dagger wounds, some badly muti- 
lated. Two or three were skinned, and some were 
burned with kerosene. A great many women are 
missing. Very many dead have been disposed of by 
the Turks. Hundreds have nothing to eat, and no 
means of getting anything. The villages of the plain 
have suffered awfully. No definite news has come; 
only the news that columns of smoke tell." 



?? 



MARASH. 

The writer became acquainted with many noble 
Armenians here during his three years in the Theolog- 
ical Seminary, and almost all his friends were killed. 
20 



806 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Among tliem were the Kev. Sdepan Jirnazian, a noble 
Christian minister, — when I was a little boy he was 
my pastor in the suburbs of Antioch; — Bedros Iski- 
yan, an American citizen, butchered before his wife 
and children; Garabed Popalian, another noble man, 
and the richest among the Armenian Evangelical 
people; Dr. Ivevork Gulizian; Khacher Bayramian 
and his family; Garabed Salibian, in whose house I 
used to take my meals. A private letter says that 
about half the Armenians w^ere killed by the Turks. 
Marash had about 35,000 population; about 15,000 
were Armenians, of whom about 7,000 were killed. 
It has four Evangelical Armenian churches there, 
a theological seminary, and a ladies' college. The 
local governor led the regular soldiers to plunder and 
kill the people. 

Letter from Marash. 

London, Nov. 28, 1895. — The correspondent of 
the United Press in Constantinople telegraphs, under 
date of [N^ovember 27, that a second terrible massacre 
has occurred in Marash, and that the houses there 
have been pillaged without regard to who their occu- 
pants might be. It is reported that thousands of per- 
sons were killed and many hundred wounded. The 
American Theological Seminary was plundered and 
burned, and two of the students in that institution 
were shot, one being fatally wounded. The hotels 
and boarding houses also were plundered. The 
Christians at Marash, and in that vicinity, thousands 
of whom are destitute, have appealed for aid. 

The following letter, under date of November 25, 
has been received here: 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 307 

'' 1 will report tlie events of the ISth in this city. 
At 7 a. m., ahnost simultaneously the firing of 
Martini rilies was heard all over the city, with contia- 
grations in three Christian quarters. 

'' We understood the meaning of it. Soldiers 
began firing against two Christian houses, and their 
inmates fled into missionary houses, and soon the sol- 
diers were looting their buildings, followed by a mob, 
who smashed doors and windows, and carried away 
property. 

'' Towards noon a squad of soldiers approached 
the missionary grounds, and it was thought that a guard 
had been sent in behalf of the missionaries. They 
entered the grounds of the seminary and academy 
boarding department. Two seminary students, who 
had concealed themselves in a cave, were discovered, 
and one of them fatally shot, while the other was 
badly wounded. 

" The soldiers looted the missionary academy board- 
ing department of all the students' clothing and bed- 
ding, and a part of the year's provisions in store. 
Other soldiers joined and looted the seminary. They 
repeatedly went to an Armenian house near by, but 
did not force it. 

" Three-quarters of that terrible day the mission- 
aries were left to any chance fate that might befall 
them. They had been informed by a Moslem of a 
purpose to burn the Girls' College that day, and a 
note had been sent to the local governor asking for a 
special guard. He replied that the barracks near by 
w^ere charged to care for them. It was soldiers in re- 
lays from that very place that were wrecking every- 
thing. 

^^ In the afternoon four or five soldiers entered the 
seminary, and soon after, fire broke out in the rear. 
As the flames wrapped the building, a trustworthy 



308 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

captain with thirty soldiers appeared at the gate, and 
the missionaries were assured of safety. The soldiers 
still continue with the missionaries. We cannot es- 
timate the loss of life. Leaders of society have been 
struck down everywhere, two missionary academy 
teachers among them." 

AKHISAR. 
The valley of the Sakaria (the ancient Sangarius), 
is, through a part of its course, followed by the Ana- 
tolia line of railway. At a spot ninety miles from 
Constantinople, where the valley broadens out into a 
considerable plain, is the station and town of Akhisar. 
This town was, until the tenth of. this month, the 
center of a considerable trade. The plain is dotted 
with vineyards, olive orchardsy mulberry gardens, 
fields of cotton, wheat, etc. The town consists of 
about 160 houses of immigrants from Bulgaria, Bos- 
nia, and Rumelia (who, having been c^cerned in the 
celebrated Bulgarian massacres, found refuge in Turk- 
ish territory), and sixty houses of Armenians. 

A Letter Oct. 15, 1895. 

Thursday, Oct. 10 (a bright, beautiful day), 
was market day. ^N^umbers of people from the sur- 
rounding villages had come with the fruits of their 
various industries. The market place consisted of 
sixty-three permanent shops, and about 150 tempo- 
rary places of trade, where traders from the surround- 
ing country exposed their wares for sale. The mar- 
ket was almost exclusively in the hands of Armenians, 
200 of the shops and trading places being in their 
hands. Rumors of danger were afloat, but the Ar- 
menians anticipated no attack on market-day. They 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 309 

had no arms, or means of defense, and had taken no 
precautions. They soon began to notice, however, 
that their Miissnhnan neighbors had mysterious whis- 
perings among themselves, and that some of them were 
searching, as with official authority, the persons of 
Armenian young men, who were supposed to have 
knives or revolvers about them. Those searching at 
last found a young Armenian, a seller of calico, w^ho 
had a knife in his possession. At once they fell upon 
him, but he escaped in the crowd that gathered, and 
the Mussulmans turned upon the Armenians, saying, 
" We must kill them all. Let him who loves his 
religion join and help." With knives and clubs the 
work was carried on, the Armenians fleeing, or hiding 
themselves in or about their shops. Turkish officials 
encouraged the killers. A herald was sent through 
the market calling, ^' Let the Moslems go to the gov- 
ernment house." They did go, and immediately re- 
turned with rifles and revolvers. Then the slaughter 
increased in madness. The piteous entreaties of the 
threatened, the shrieks of the wounded, the groans of 
the dying, the shouts of the killers, and the hysterical 
cries of some of the Christians, who, to save their lives 
were calling out with desperate energy the Moham- 
medan formula of faith, rose to the deaf heavens. 
Ten-year-old Turkish boys, as though hunting rats, 
rushed into holes and corners, and discovering the 
hiding-places of the merchants and traders, called 
to their fathers and big brothers, " Here is a Gia- 
vour ! " and while that one was being dispatched they 
rushed off to ferret out another. For four hours the 
slaughter continued. Ropes were attached to the 
feet of the corpses, which were dragged like the car- 
casses of dogs through the streets to dry wells, into 
which they were thrown. An old man, aged 75, was 
tumbled in alive, and left to die among the dead bodies 



310 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

of his friends. The money and watches of the mer- 
chants were secured by the ruffians. The notes of 
hand and account books were torn into shreds (the 
killers were debtors to the merchants), and the shop^, 
were looted. Isot so much as a pin or needle was 
left in the 200 shops. Then the cry was raised, " To 
the houses ! " to complete the destruction of the Chris- 
tian inhabitants. 

Twenty-nine bodies were afterward recovered for 
burial; thirty-three persons (some of whom afterward 
died), were found to be wounded, and about forty are 
still missing. The lieutenant-governor arrived that 
night on the scene, and sent an official report (by tele- 
gram) to Constantinople, to the effect that a row had 
occurred between Turks and Armenians, in which 
three Armenians had been killed and two wounded, 
but that order had been restored ! Efforts were made 
to cover the matter up. Christians were imprisoned 
for talking about the massacre, or for sending the news 
to friends. A prominent man, well-known through- 
out the country, wished to let his circle of friends 
know that he was still alive, and was permitted to ad- 
vertise that he had met with an accident, but was 
quite well. 

Great patches of dried blood in the shops pre- 
sented the appearance of places used for the slaughter 
of sheep. Groups of people were standing before the 
houses, statue-like, bewildered and hopeless, while 
other groups were wailing over the news of the corpses 
of friends, just recovered from the wells. I saw one 
of the mutilated corpses, and have seen it night and 
day since. 

An American Missionary. 

The above missionary also says not only common 
people, but also officers of high rank, made free threats 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 3ll 

of massacre, and ostentatiously sharpened tlieir swords 
and cleaned their weapons in the presence of their 
Armenian neighbors. Great care was taken by the 
authorities to deprive the Armenians of arms; but the 
Mussulmans were allowed to carry arms freely. The 
Constantinople demonstration and consequent mas- 
sacre aggravated the situation. It was pitiable to see 
the fear that held the Armenians as in a nightmare, 
and to hear the threats and observe the bearing of the 
Turks. 

A soldier, passing the door of a Christian house 
and observing a young woman sitting on the door- 
step, ground his teeth and called out to her, " You 
may sit there four days more, and then I will have 
you on the point of this bayonet.'' The girl fled in 
terror into the house. 

ZEITOON. 

Zeitoon is fifteen miles from Marash. The Zeitoon- 
lis arc the bravest of all the Armenians ; there are about 
15,000 in the city, and no Mohammedans, save a 
dozen or two Turkish families, and they talk the Ar- 
menian language. Until about thirty years ago Zei- 
toon was a free city ; but they were conquered by craft, 
and became tributary to Turkey. The Sultan gar- 
risoned the place to keep them down, and the troops 
committed every sort of iniquity. Finally, about two 
years ago, the Sultan sent physicians there to poison 
the Armenian boys. These assassins professed to have 
come to vaccinate the boys; every boy Avho was vac- 
cinated died. Then the Zcitoonlis revolted, captured 



312 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

llie barracks from the soldiers, took all the guns 
cannon, and ammunition, and sent the soldiers away. 
This action enraged the Sultan, and he sent some 20,- 
000 regular soldiers and 30,000 bashi-bazooks to punish 
them; but they were repulsed with heavy loss by the 
Zeitoonlis. It has been reported that during the bat- 
tle between the Zeitoonlis and Turks about 15,000 of 
the latter w^ere killed. Finally the Sultan lost hope 
of conquering them, and asked the European powers 
to use their good offices to restore peace in Zeitoon, 
and the consuls of the different powers induced them 
to resume peaceful work by guaranteeing that the 
Zeitoonlis shall not be molested. But who believes 
a word of it ? We know, with horrible clearness, of 
how much value the powers' "guarantee" is; they 
say there is no obligation but to keep count of the 
massacres. 

A Few statements from Zeitoon. 

" Turkish mendacity is again asserting itself. A 
few days ago the Sublime Porte set afloat the official 
report that Zeitoon has fallen, after hard fighting, 
in which 2,500 Armenians were said to have been 
killed as against 250 Turks, ^ow these official re- 
ports turn out to have been official lies. News from 
independent sources shows that Zeitoon has not yet 
fallen; that its gallant defenders are still holding 
out their own. To Armenians who understand Ot- 
toman tactics, the alacrity with which Abdul Hamid 
sent abroad the news of the supposed victory of his 
troops is a sign of misfortunes and reverses. The 
Turks control the avenues of communication at Mar- 
ash, and it is not surprising that they attempt to win 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 313 

victories upon telegraphic despatches — but not at 
Zeitoon. 

The Armenians at Zeitoon are rebels against or- 
ganized assassination, plunder, and arson. They have 
been unwilling to submit meekly to Turkish outrages, 
and are determined to defend their lives, their homes, 
and their property. They have vanquished Turkish 
armies before, and strewn the ground with thousands 
of Turkish carcasses. They need fear nothing but 
the lack of supplies. Will not Christian nations inter- 
vene to save a valiant people who are defending their 
homes and their liberties, and who cannot be conquered 
by force of arms, yet who may be compelled to sur- 
render to inexorable hunger ? — [Tigram H. Suni, 
Dec. 31. 

" London, Feb. 3. — A dispatch from Constanti- 
nople to the ' Daily ^ews ' says : ' Reports from 
Turkish sources believed to be fairly accurate state 
that it is believed that the Zeitoonlis art.< still holding 
out. The Turks have made seven different attacks 
upon the town, but all have failed, and their losses 
are reported to amount to 10,000. It is alleged that 
50,000 troops will be needed to capture Zeitoon. 

"It is believed that the Zeitoonlis number from 
15,000 to 20,000, well armed, and provisioned for a 
year. There is a doubtful report that 4,000 Russian 
Armenians crossed the Persian frontier, and defeated 
the Turks at Siz, eighteen hours from Zeitoon, and 
have joined the Zeitoonlis.'^ 

MISCELLANEOUS 

In the province of Aleppo, the village of Chizek, 
the Armenian priest was killed for refusing to become 
a Mohammedan. 

In the province of Erzeroum and the district of 



314 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Erzinghan, six separate attacks for pillage have been 
made upon the village of Zimara, and great pressure 
is being used to force the people of the village to be- 
come Mohammedans. 

At the village of Gazma the houses have been pil- 
laged, and mimbers of the people have become Mo- 
hammedans to save their lives. 

In the province of Bitlis a considerable number 
of Armenians at Sert have been forced to become Mo- 
hammedans. In the district of Shirvan, out of twen- 
ty-two Armenian villages, the inhabitants of four en- 
tire villages have become Mohammedans to save their 
lives. The priests also accepted Mohammedanism, 
and the churches have been changed into mosques. 
At a little village at which the inhabitants could not 
disperse over the mountains a considerable number 
were killed, and the survivors accepted Mohammedan- 
ism. This village is called Kourine. In the district 
of Chilain, returns from six villages have come in 
which show a considerable number of persons killed 
for refusing to accept Islamism. 

In the province of Van the stuffed skin of the su- 
perior of the monastery of Khizan was still hanging 
from a tree in front of the monastery three weeks 
after the massacre took place; that is, at the date of 
the last news from there, ^ov. 27. At Khar- 
kotz in this province three priests accepted Moham- 
medanism, and were paraded through the streets in 
the dress of Mohammedan ulema in order to influence 
the people to follow their example. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 315 

In tlie province of Ilarpoot in many of the smaller 
villages, where the people have been supposed by the 
Turks to be mere peasants, without ideas of their own, 
the oifer of Islamism has not been made, but the people 
seized without ceremony and circumcised by force, 
and are considered now as Mohammedans. At Ha- 
boosi, in this province, the Christian dead were left 
unburied in the streets for the dogs to eat. The Ar- 
menian church and the Protestant chapel and par- 
sonage were burned. 

At Peri, in the same province, 450 Christians were 
made Mohammedans by threats of death. 

At Aivos in the same province, all the buildings 
were destroyed. The Armenian priest was forced to 
give the call to prayer, and was then shot for refusing 
to become a Moslem. 

At Garmuri the Christians accepted Mohamme- 
danism at the edge of the sword, and have been cir- 
cumcised. The Protestant chapel and parsonage were 
burned, and the Armenian church has been seized and 
made into a mosque. 

At Hokh the Armenian church and Protestant 
chapel and parsonage were burned. 

At Houilu in the province of Harpoot, 266 out of 
300 Christian houses were burned, among them the 
fine new Protestant church. Two priests were killed. 
Ifany of the people succeeded in escaping from the 
village. The rest have been forced to declare them- 
selves Mohammedans. ■ 

The events above mentioned took place in the main 



316 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

between ^NTov. 6 and ^ov. 20. But the process 
of forced conversion and the murder of indi- 
viduals who refuse to accept Mohammedanism was 
still going on as lately ^s the 20tli of December, when 
the Turkish government was assuring the European 
Ambassadors that all is quiet in Asiatic Turkey, and 
that all that is necessary to complete the work of paci- 
fication is for Turkey to be let alone. 

The nature of the pacification which may be ex- 
pected if Turkey is left free to carry out its schemes 
for these provinces may be judged from the following 
list of educated and influential Protestant ministers, 
who have been put to death for refusing to embrace 
Mohammedanism. In every case the offer of life 
on these terms was made; in several cases time was 
allowed for consideration of the proposal ; and in each 
case faith in Jesus Christ was the sole crime charged 
against the victim. 

1. Rev. Krikor, pastor at Ichme, killed l^ov. 6, 1895. 

2. Rev. Ivrikor Tamzarien. 

3. Rev. Boghos Atlasian, killed ISTov. 13. 

4. Rev. Mardiros Siraganian, of Arabkir, killed 

'Nov. 13. 

5. Rev. Garabed Tvilijjian of Sivas, killed ^ov. 12. 

6. Rev. Mr. Stepan, of the Anglican Church at Ma- 

rash, killed ^ov. 18. 

7. The preacher of the village of Hajin, killed at 

Mar ash T^ov. 18. 

8. Rev. Tvrikor Baghdasarian, retired preacher at 

Harpoot, l^ov. 18. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 317 

9. Retired preacher at Divrik, killed IN^ov. 8. 

10. Rev. Garabed Resseian, pastor at Cherwouk, 

Nov. 5. 

11. Rev. Metean Minasian, pastor at Slierik, Kov. 

12. Pastor at Cutteroul, I^ov. 6. 

13. Preacher at Cntteroul, E^ov. 6. 

14. Rev. Sarkis N^arkashjian, pastor at Chounkoush, 

Nov. 14. 

15. The pastor of the church at Severek, iN^ovember. 

16. The pastor of the church at Adiyaman. 

17. Rev. Hohannes Hachadorian, pastor at Kilisse, 

ivTov. 7. 

18. The preacher at Karabesh, near Diarbekir, 

Xov. 7. 

19. Rev. Mardiros Tarzian, pastor at Keserik, near 

Harpoot, jSs^ovember. 

TELEGRAMS FROM HAJIN (ARMENIA). 

To the English Consul at Aleppo, and to the English Ambassador 
of Constantinople. 

All the suburban towns of Hajin where Christians 
live were plundered bv Mohammedans, and some of 
the Christians were killed. The people of Hajin and 
we are in danger; immediate help is needed. — Nov. 5, 
1895. 

To the American Minister at Constantinople. 

The Christian villages of Hajin were totally plun- 
dered by the Mohammedans. About two thousand, 
naked and hungry, ran away and came to Hajin. 
Both the Christian people at Hajin and we are in dan- 
ger; immediate help is needed. — Nov. 5, 1895. 



318 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Extracts from a Hajin Letter. 

My Dear Sir:— IS'ov. 25, 1895. 

The situation is growing worse here. All the 
suburban Christian villages were plundered by Mo- 
hammedans. Some of the villages which were plun- 
dered were as follows: — Shar-Dere, Roumlou, Kok- 
ooun, and Dash-olouk. All of them are left naked 
and hungry. Came here to our city, and we are taking- 
care of them. And the government never punished 
any of the plunderers. They were encouraged, and 
surrounded our city, and nobody can go out of the 
city, and if this continues so, we shall have a famine 
soon, and die in the city. The government does not 
protect us, but helps the plunderers, and we are con- 
tinually threatened to be killed. Our only hope is 
in God. 

Another Extract from a Letter op an Armenian. 

E"ov. 25, 1895. 
My Dear Uncle : — * 

If vou ask our condition, thank God that we are 
alive. But beside life we have nothing, no comfort, 
no happiness, no property, no church, no religion, all 
are taken from us. Though we are alive, many of 
our number were killed, and those -who survive are 
wandering here and there, naked and hungry, and 
are dying in that manner. 

God is angry, and exceedingly angry to us. Per- 
haps he will hear your prayers; pray for us, or else 
all of us shall perish. I can never describe the hor- 
rible situation in which we are put. 

Yours truly, 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 319 
FROM HADISH VILLAGE, ARMENIA. 

My Dear Friend;— Dec. 2, 1895. 

In great sorrow and in despair I am compelled to 
write to you a few lines to inform you of our most 
miserable condition. 

The Turks and Kurds came to our village, plun- 
dered everything we had, killed more than 600 per- 
sons, violated the women and girls, tortured the preg- 
nant women, and now we who survive have nothing to 
live on. Naked, hungry, cold, hopeless, we are cry- 
ing bitterly. I write these few lines; perhaps you 
can inform the Christian world and they may help us 
and relieve our sufferings. Yours truly, 

There are many other cities, towns, and villages in 
Armenia, where thousands of people were tortured 
and killed, their houses burned and plundered, their 
children kidnapped, the women violated. But there 
is no space to put all here in this book. I am sure the 
reader will be satisfied with reading this long chapter 
of Armenian horrors, and the letters on the atrocities 
from different reliable sources. 

To sum up, during these frightful scenes in Ar- 
menia more than 100,000 Armenians were killed, and 
half a million left without food, homes, or clothing; 
they are dying in heaps ; and there is no hope of getting 
any help from Armenia itself, even when the spring 
comes, for those who would have supported them are 
killed, and most of the destitute are women and chil- 
dren. Everything, even to clothes, is taken from 
them, the head of the family is killed, and they are 
left hopeless and in despair. How long can the Ked 



320 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Cross Society help tliem ? How long can tlie Ameri- 
can people help them ? ]Not very long; when spring 
conies they will say, '^ We have done all we could for 
the Armenians; let them take care of themselves.'' 
But will they stop to think how the Armenians can 
take care of themselves ? Have they oxen and horses 
to plough ? ^o. Is there any man left to support 
his wife and children ? No. Suppose here and there 
an Armenian is left (I mean in the country places, 
not in the cities), dare he go out to his field and work ? 
No. Were any of those who plundered and killed 
punished ? No. What guarantee can we have, then, 
that those who survive will not be killed or plundered 
in their turn ? None. Will the European powers 
who signed the Berlin Treaty give any assurance to 
the Armenians that they will be protected hereafter ? 
No. Is the Sultan a better man since the massacre ? 
No. Are the Turks and Kurds better people since 
the atrocities ? No. They are worse than ever 
before, because they have a freer hand, and all their 
passions are roused to greater strength. Well, then, 
if these are all facts, what is the use of feeding people 
a few weeks merely to keep them alive for another mas- 
sacre that will finish the rest of them ? 

O reader, do not be cheated. The Armenians need 
practical aid, not deceptive aid. I mean the Armen- 
ians must be liberated from the cruel Sultan; if not, 
no aid is given to the Armenians. Because the fu- 
ture will be worse than ever before. 

Thus far I have continually assumed and tried to 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 321 

prove that the Sultan of Turkey deliberately ordered 
all these atrocities committed. But perhaps you will 
doubt the statement of a native; you will think I am 
prejudiced. Therefore I will give you American tes- 
timonies from reliable sources. .Please read the fol- 
lowing from the '^ Review of Reviews '' : — 



THE MASSACRES IN TURKEY. 

From Oct. 1, 1895, to Jan. 1, 1896. 
Certain persons in Europe and America, misled by 
statements of the Turkish government, have ascribed 
the dreadful massacres which have taken place in 
Asia Minor to sudden and spontaneous outbreaks of 
Moslem fanaticism, caused by a revolutionary attitude 
among the Armenians themselves. The truth is that 
these massacres, while sudden, have taken place ac- 
cording to a deliberate and preconcerted plan. Ac- 
cording to the statement of many persons, French, 
English, Canadian, American, Turk, Kurd and Ar- 
menian, — persons trustworthy and intelligent, who 
were in the places where the massacres occurred, and 
who were eye-witnesses of the horrible scenes, — the 
outbreaks were under careful direction in regard to 
place, time, nationality of the victims and of the per- 
petrators, were prompted by a common motive, and 
their true character has been systematically concealed 
by Turkish official reports. The following paper is 
based upon full accounts of the massacres, written on 
the ground by the parties above referred to. Their 
names, for obvious reasons, cannot be made public. 

I. In Regard to Place. 

With only four exceptions of consequence, the 
massacres have been confined to the territory of the 
six provinces where reforms were to be instituted. 
21 



322 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

AVlien a band of two tliousand Kurdish and Circas- 
sian raiders approached the boundary between the 
provinces of Sivas and Angora, they were turned back 
by the officials, who told them that they had no author- 
ity to pass beyond the province of Sivas. The only 
large places wdiere outrages occurred outside of the 
six provinces are Trebizond, Marash, Aintab, and 
Cesarea, in all of which the Moslems were excited 
by the nearness of the scenes of massacre, and by the 
reports of the plunder which other Moslems were 
securing. 

II. In Regard to Time. 

The massacre in Trebizond occurred just as the 
Sultan, after six months of refusal, was about to con- 
sent to the scheme of reforms, as if to warn the powers 
that in case they persisted, the mine was already laid 
for the destruction of the Armenians. In fact, the 
massacre of the Armenians is Turkey^s real reply to 
the demands of Europe that she reform. From Tre- 
bizond the wave of murder and robbery swept on 
through almost every city, and town, and village in 
the six j)rovinces where relief was promised to the Ar- 
menians. When the news of the first massacre 
reached Constantinople, a high Turkish official re- 
marked to one of the Ambassadors that massacre was 
like the small-pox; they must all have it, but they 
wouldn't need it the second time. 

III. The Nationality of the Victims. 

They were exclusively Armenians. In Trebi- 
zond there is a large Greek population, but neither 
there nor elsewhere have the Greeks been molested. 
Special care has also been taken to avoid injury to the 
subjects of foreign nations, with the idea of escaping 
foreign complications and the payment of indemni- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 323 

ties. The only marked exceptions were in Marasli, 
where three school buildings belonging to the Ameri- 
can Mission were looted, and one building was burned; 
and in Harpoot, where the school buildings and houses 
belonging to the American Mission were plundered 
and eight buildings were burned, the total losses ex- 
ceeding $100,000, for which no indemnity has yet 
been paid. 

IV. The Method of Killing and Pillaging. 

The method in the cities has been to kill within 
a limited period the largest number of Armenians, — 
especially men of business, capacity, and intelligence^ 
— and to beggar their families by robbing them, as 
far as possible, of their property. Hence, in almost 
every place the massacres have been perpetrated during 
the business hours, when the Armenians could be 
caught in their shops. In almost every place, the 
Moslems made a sudden and simultaneous attack just 
after their noonday prayer. The surprised and un- 
armed Armenians made little or no resistance, and 
where, as at Diarbekir and Gurun, they undertook to 
defend themselves, they suffered the more. The kill- 
ing was done with guns, revolvers, swords, clubs, pick- 
axes, and every conceivable weapon, and many of the 
dead were horribly mangled. The shops and houses 
were absolutely gutted. 

Upon hundreds of villages the Turks and Kurds 
came down like the hordes of Tamerlane, robbed the 
helpless peasants of their flocks and herds, stripped 
them of their very clothing, and carried away their 
bedding, cooking utensils, and even the little stores 
of provisions which they had with infinite care and 
toil laid up for the severities of a rigorous winter. 
Worst of all is the bitter cry that comes from every 



324 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

quarter that the Moslems carried off hundreds of Chris- 
tian women and children. 

The number killed in the massacres thus far is 
estimated at fifty thousand, which includes the major- 
ity of the well-to-do, capable, intelligent Armenians 
in the six provinces that were to have been reformed. 
The property plundered or destroyed is estimated at 
$40,000,000. JS^ot less than three hundred and fifty 
thousand wretched survivors, most of whom are wo- 
men and children, are in danger of perishing by star- 
vation and exposure unless foreign aid is promptly 
sent and allowed to reach them. 

V. The Perpetrators. 

They were the resident Moslem population, rein- 
forced by Xurds, Circassians, and in several cases by 
the Sultan's soldiers and officers, w^ho began the dread- 
ful work at the sound of a bugle, and desisted when the 
bugle signaled to them to stop. This was notoriously 
true in Erzeroum. In Harpoot, also, the soldiers took 
a prominent part, firing on the bvuldings of the Ameri- 
can Mission with Martini-Henry rifles and Krupp 
cannon. A shell from one of the cannon burst in the 
house of the American ^lissionary. Dr. Barnum. In 
most places the killing was by the Turks, while the 
Kurds and Circassians were intent on plunder, and gen- 
erally killed only to strike terror or when they met with 
resistance. It is an utter mistake to suppose, as some 
have, that the local authorities could not have sup- 
pressed the " fanatical " Moslem mobs and restrained 
the Tvurds. The fact is that the authorities, after 
lookins" on while the massacres were in progress, did 
generallv intervene and stop the slaughter as soon as 
the limited period during which the Moslems were 
allowed to kill and rob had expired. 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 325 

At Marsovan tlie limit of time was four hours. In 
several places the slaughter and pillage continiied 
from noon till sundown, or later. At Sivas they con- 
tinued for a whole day. In every place the carnage 
stopped as soon as the authorities made an earnest ef- 
fort, and had it not been for their intervention after 
the set time of one, two, or three days, the entire Ar- 
menian population might have been exterminated. 

VI. The Motive of the Tueks. 

This is apparent to the superficial observer. The 
scheme of reforms devolved civil officers, judgeships, 
and police participation on Mohammedans and non- 
]\Iohammedans in the six provinces proportionately, 
'iliis, while simple justice, was a bitter pill to the Mo- 
hammedans, who had ruled the Christians with a rod 
of iron for five hundred years. All that was needed 
to make the scheme of reforms inoperative was to 
alter the proportion of Christians to Mohammedans. 
This policy was at once relentlessly and thoroughly ex- 
ecuted. The number of the Armenians has been dimin- 
ished, first by killing at a single blow those most capa- 
ble of taking a part in any scheme of reconstruction, 
and secondly by compelling the survivors to die of 
starvation, exposure, and sickness, or to become Mos- 
lems. 

It is the very essence of Mohammedanism that the 
'" ghiavour " has no right to live, save in subjection. 
The abortive scheme of Europe insisting on the rights 
of Armenians as men, has enraged the Moslems against 
them. The arrogant and non-progressive Turks know 
that in a fair and equal race the Christians will out- 
strip them in every department of business and in- 
dustry, and they see in any fair scheme of reforms the 
handwriting on the wall for themselves. If the 
scheme of reforms had applied to regions where 



'^26 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Greeks predominate, the latter would have been killed 
and robbed as readily as the Armenians have been. 
Are the Greek massacres of 1822 forgotten, when 
50,000 were killed, or the slaughter of 12,000 Maron- 
ites and Syrians in 1860, and of 15,000 Bulgarians in 
187G ^ 

VII. Turkish Official Reports. 

The refinement of cruelty appears in this, that the 
Turkish government has attempted to cover up its 
hideous policy by the most colossal lying and hypoc- 
risy. It is true that on Sept. 30, 1895, some 
hot-headed young Armenians, contrary to the entrea- 
ties of the Armenian patriarch and the orders of the 
police, attempted to take a well-worded petition to 
the Grand Yezir, according to a time-honored custom. 
It is also true that the oppressed mountaineers of 
Zeitoon drove out a small garrison of Turkish soldiers, 
whom, however, they treated with humanity ; it is like- 
wise true that in various places individual Armenians, 
in despair, have advocated violent methods. But the 
universal testimony of impartial foreign eye-witnesses 
is that, with the above exceptions, the Armenians have 
given no provocation, and that almost, if not quite, 
all the telegrams purporting to come from the provin- 
cial authorities accusing the Armenians with provoking 
the massacres, are sheer fabrications of names and 
dates. If the Armenians made attacks, where are the 
Turkish dead ? 

And the dreadful alternative of Islam or death 
was offered by those who have dazzled and deceived 
Europe with Hatti Shereps and Hatti Humayouns, pro- 
mulgating civil equality and religious liberty for their 
Christian subjects. 

Strangest of all, he who is the head of all authority 
in Turkey, and responsible above anv and all others 
for the cold-blooded massacres and plundering of the 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 327 

past two months, wrote a letter to Lord Salisbury, and 
pledged his word of honor that the scheme of reforms 
should be carried out to the letter, at the very moment 
when he was directing the massacres. And the six 
great Christian powers of Europe, as well as the United 
States, still treat this man with infinite courtesy and 
deference; their representatives still dine at his tables, 
and some of them still receive his decorations. 

VIII. The Solution. 

If the Armenians are to be left as they are, it is a 
pity that Europe ever mentioned them in the treaty of 
Berlin or subsequently; and to intrust reforms in be- 
half of the Armenians to those who have devoted 
two months' time to killing and robbing them is sim- 
ply to abandon the Armenians to destruction, and to 
put the seal of Europe to the bloody Avork. The only 
way to reform Eastern Turkey is by forcible foreign 
intervention — not the threat of it, but the inter- 
A^ention itself. 

The position and power of Russia give her a unique 
call to this work. Should she enter on it at once, the 
whole civilized world would approve her course. 

Russia should have as free a hand in Kurdistan 
as England has insisted on having in Egypt. By 
frankly admitting this, England would gain in the 
respect and sympathy of the world, and strengthen 
her own position. 

INFERENCES FROM THE ARMENIAN ATROCITIES. 

Eirst : That devotion to Christ is not lessened but 
increased. Many peojjle think the spirit of unbelief 
and indifferentism has spread so widely that in this 
nineteenth century people will no longer die for Christ. 
But out of 100,000 Armenians massacred, 00,000 



328 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

were actually martyred because tliey would not deny 
Christ. In all lands, Christians praise the old martyrs, 
the church fathers: let them know that there are as 
noble church sons and daughters to-day in Armenia 
as there were church fathers anywhere in the early 
centuries. Thus these hideous scenes ought to awaken 
a true Christian spirit both in this country and in Eu- 
rope. 

Second: That it was a religious persecution. 
Though the false and cruel Sultan gave a political 
color to it, his universal order was to offer the Ar- 
menians the choice of Mohammedanism or death. 
This is proved by the fact that the leading gospel min- 
isters were specially chosen for martyrdom. And 
some of the Armenian priests, after having been con- 
verted by force, to escape unbearable tortures, were 
led through the streets, followed by great crowds, as a 
Avarning to the remaining Armenians that they 
must follow the same road. When some of them did 
it, the Turks forced them to take arms and kill their 
brothers and sisters for refusing to accept Mohamme- 
danism. To speak of the massacres as political affairs 
is doing injustice to the cause of Christ. 

Third : That whatever a man sows, he shall reap 
the same. The Sultan and the Turks are sowing, — 
they are killing, and thousands of the Christians are 
converted by force to Mohammedanism; but the time 
is coming when more Mohammedans will be killed 
than Armenians have been, and thousands, and even 
millions of the Mohammedans will be converted to 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 329 

Christianity^ and the blood of the Armenian martyrs 
will be the means of their salvation through Jesus 
Christ. The time is coming when out of this great 
persecution a great and happy freedom will proceed. 
Out of this great darkness a very bright light shall 
shine. 

Fourth: Some of the Turks helped and saved 
the Armenians. Certainly these were secret converts 
to Christianity, but their lives being in danger, they 
cannot confess Christ publicly. All they can do for 
the present is to help the needy Christians and save 
them from murder. Another class of Turks who helped 
is those who were themselves getting a living out of the 
Armenians. The Armenians gave them employment, 
and if their employers were killed, how could they 
get a living ? Still another class protected the Ar- 
menians, because if the Armenian houses were burned, 
their houses also would be burned; and they asked 
and got money from the Armenians as a reward for 
having saved them. It is a mistake to think that there 
are good Mohammedans, who, from a good Mohamme- 
dan motive helped the Armenians. There cannot be 
a good Mohammedan motive towards a Christian; if 
there is a good motive, it is not a Mohammedan motive. 

Fifth: That the time has come when American 
and European Christians should trust no longer in the 
promises of the Sultan and the European governments, 
but as Christian people must use something more than 
" moral principle " before all the Armenians and Am- 
erican missionaries are killed. Moral influence 



Sao ARMENIA AND HEH PEOPLE. 

is very good as far as it goes ; being a Christian minis- 
ter, 1 also believe in it. But as far as the Turks are 
concerned it can do nothing, because they do not know 
what morals are, or what moral character is. All the 
Turks are morally corrupt. They know only two 
things; one is the sword, the other is moral corrup- 
tion. They came and captured that country by the 
sword, and they must go by the sword ; there is no other 
way. Europe tried the experiment century after cen- 
tury, but could lind no other way. Moral advice, wise 
counsel have never moved the Turks, and will never 
move them hereafter. Europe and a part of Armenia 
Avere taken from them by the sword, and the only way 
Armenia and the Armenians can be saved is by using 
the sword. When Christ comes again He will never 
yield; He will never be crucified, but he will judge 
and condemn. The time has come when Christians 
have suffered enough; they must unite and remove 
that great curse, the Mohammedan power, and make 
free that happy and beautiful Bible Land, Armenia 
and Palestine. 

Reader, you cannot go and visit to-day the places 
where man was created, where Noah's ark rested. You 
cannot go in safety to visit the places where 
Christ was born and walked. Why ? Simply 
because a corrupt Mohammedan power wills there, 
and will not permit you. Is it not a shame to mighty 
Christian nations and powers that this is so ? Will 
not the Christian nations be aroused with great indig- 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 831 

nation and give the last blow to such a cruel Moham- 
medan tyranny ^ 

Sixth: That Turkey is a mere barbarism; it is 
not to be considered or treated as a nation, for it is not 
one in any sense. International law cannot be ap- 
plied to Turkey. The Sultan must be considered as a 
brigand, a mere lawless oppressor, and the Turks as 
mere murderers, and dealt with accordingly. The 
powers must give up the farce of treating the Sultan 
as a national sovereign, who speaks for his people, and 
may govern, therefore, much as he pleases. As Mr. 
W. W. Howard says, '^ The blackest spot in the round 
-world is the heart of the Sultan of Turkey.'^ 

A Farewell Letter from a Prominent Armenian. 
March 24, 1896. 

" We are evidently a doomed people. A hundred 
thousand of us have been butchered, and more than 
a million of us are in extreme suffering from hunger, 
and cold, and nakedness. Multitudes beyond the 
reach of foreign aid must inevitably perish before 
spring. As to the rest of us, our supplies of food 
and money are rapidly diminishing. IVe can prose- 
cute no business, we are not at liberty to earn our 
daily bread, and for even the most fortunate, the 
future has only the prospect of starvation a little later 
than our poor brethren. 

" We hear the announcement that order and peace 
are being restored, but to us these are empty words. 
The terrible and wholesale massacre at Oorfa and Bir- 
idjik occurred long subsequent to the most solemn and 
emphatic assurances that nothing more of the kind 
was to be apprehended, — long after the commission 
sent out from Constantinople to carry the message of 



332 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

peace and reform to Armenia liad readied its field of 
labor. 

'' Massacres are not now so frequent as tliey were 
a few months ago, but the attitude of relentless hos- 
tility on the part of the government towards us, the 
ferocious aspect of our Moslem neighbors, has not a 
whit improved. They seem to be eagerly watching 
for an opportune moment in which to finish their 
bloody work, and rid themselves forever of this trouble- 
some demand for reform. 

" May we not then rightfully offer our farewell 
message to our fellow men ? 

^' First — To our Moslem fellow countrymen: 

" We desire to express our deepest gratitude to 
those of you who have sympathized with and helped 
us in these days of calamity and bloodshed. Towards 
those who liaA^e robbed and massacred us, and plun- 
dered and burned our houses, we have chiefly feel- 
ings of compassion. You have perhaps done these 
terrible things in what has seemed to you the service 
of your religion and government. 

" Second — To our Sultan — most dread and 
potent sovereign: 

" Apparently you have been persuaded that we 
are a rebellious people deserving only utter and speedy 
extermination. For such as vou, this work of de- 
struction is no doubt an easy one, the more so as 
we have had neither the means nor the disposition to 
resist it. 

'' Third — To the European powers: 

" We have not been an importunate nor a turbu- 
lent people. We did not incite the Crimean War, nor 
any of the subsequent wars Avhich have stricken this 
empire. It is not of our will that we were begotten 
to a ncAv political life by the treaty of 1856. Our 
complaints and appeals have been based solely on 



THE TURKISH ATROCITIES IN ARMENIA. 333 

the sentiment of humanity and the common rights of 
man. It was you who arranged the '' scheme of re- 
forms/' and urged it upon our Sultan till he was ir- 
ritated to the extent that he seems to have adopted 
the plan of ridding himself finally of this annoyance 
by exterminating us as a people; and now, while he 
is relentlessly carrying out this plan, you are standing 
by as spectators and witnesses of this bloody work. 

" We w^onder if sympathy and the brotherhood of 
n.an and chivalry are wholly things of the past, or 
are the material and political interests dividing you 
so great that the massacre of the whole people is a 
secondary thing ? In either case ^^ We who are about 
to die salute you." 

^^ Fourth — To the Christians of America : 
" Although we have cherished strong prejudice 
against your mission work among us, recent events 
have proved that our Protestant brethren are one with 
us, and have shared fully our anxieties and our perils. 
You have labored through them to promote among us 
the peace and prosperity of the gospel. It is not your 
fault that one result of their teaching and example 
has been to excite our masters against us. The Turk- 
ish government dreads and dislikes nothing so much as 
the ideas of progress which you have sent us." 



YIII. 

THE AKMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 

There are about five millions of Armenians in the 
world at present: three millions in the Turkish Em- 
pire, a million and a half in Russian Armenia, and 
half a million more scattered through Persia, India, 
and Burmah, Egypt, Europe (there are two or three 
hundred thousand in the Austrian Empire), and 
America. There are poor and ignorant people among 
them, as among every people; the majority, however, 
are (or were before the late horrors) well off, and 
many of them rich, educated, refined, and, in a word, 
modern Christian people. Of all the impudent inver- 
sions of truth ever perpetrated;- the most outrageously 
impudent and shamelessly the exact contrary of fact 
is the assertion of Mavroyeni Bey, the Turkish min- 
ister at Washington, that the case of the Turks against 
the Armenians is like that of the whites against the 
Indians in this country; that the American whites 
must be allowed to keep the Indians down, and the 
Turks must be allowed to keep the Armenians down. 
If the Indians possessed all the money, all the intel- 
ligence, all the cultivation, and all the morals in Amer- 
ica, and the whites were a mob of ignorant, cruel, lust- 
ful ruffians holding them down by the organized 

(334) 




AN ARMENIAN FAMILY. 




ANATOLIA COLLEGE AT MAESOVAN. 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 335 

power of the sword, the comparison would be just. As 
it is, the Turks correspond fairly enough with the In- 
dians, and the Armenians to the whites, in every other 
respect than military power. Does a Turk — a true 
Turk — ever write a book ? Does he ever publish 
a newspaper, or read one ^ Does he ever build a 
church, or pay attention to the moral precepts taught 
in one ? Does he ever found or manage a business, 
or even an estate ? In a word, does he have any more 
intellectual, moral, or business part in the life of mod- 
ern civilization than a Hottentot or a Matabele ? And 
do not the Armenians do and have all these things ? 
Are they not in the stream of the same kind of cul- 
tivated Christian life led bv Americans ? Nowhere 
else on earth, but in the Turkish Empire, can one find 
millions of gentlemen and ladies and civilized modern 
citizens ruled over, oppressed, and massacred in hun- 
dreds of thousands by a gang of mediaeval Asiatic 
barbarians, not advanced from the time of Timour or 
Jenghiz Khan. It is the greatest anarchronism and 
monstrosity of modern times. 

If my Avork is thought prejudiced, listen to what 
is said of them by men of the first authority, — the 
greatest statesmen, the best informed special corre- 
spondent, and one of the chief historians of England 
at the present time. First the statesman: — 

" The Armenians are the representatives of one 
of the oldest civilized Christian races, and beyond all 
doubt one of the most pacific, one of the most industri- 
ous, and one of the most intelligent races in the world." 
— [Gladstone. 



336 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Xext the special correspondent: — 

" The x\rmenians constitute the whole civilizing ele- 
ment in Anatolia (Asia Minor) ; peaceful to the degree 
of self-sacrifice, law-abiding to their own undoing, 
and industrious and hopeful under conditions which 
would appall the majority of mankind. At their best, 
they are tlie stuff of which heroes and martyrs are 
moulded." — [E. J. Dillon. 

Lastly the historian : — 

'' The best chance for the future of the Asiatic 
provinces of Turkey lies in the uprising of a progress- 
ive Christian people, which may ultimately grow into 
an independent Christian state. The Armenians have, 
alone among the races of Western Asia, the gifts that 
can enable them to aspire to this mission. They are 
keen-witted, energetic, industrious, apt to learn, and 
quick in assimilating western ideas." — [James Bryce. 

IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 

There are about two millions of Armenians in Ar- 
menia Proper, and another million scattered through 
the rest of the empire. The absurd figures given by 
some writers, making them greatly less than this (one 
magazine editor got it down to 300,000 ! It is sig- 
nificant that he was a strong apologist for the mas- 
sacre, and laid all the blame to the Armenians) result 
mostly from taking the ofiicial statistics of the Turk- 
ish government. !N^ow, there are three reasons why 
these are always grossly wrong ; of no more value than 
the weather predictions in an almanac, and always 
wrong in the direction of understating the numbers. 

One is that it is the Sultan's interest to make them 
as small as possible, that the Armenians may not be 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 337 

considered to have the right to autonomy as a nation; 
the fewer they are, and the more outnumbered by the 
Turks, the less right they seem to have. ^' An in- 
dependent Armenia ? " shriek the Turkish ministers 
and officers. " Why, there are only a few hundred 
thousand Armenians in their so-called country, and 
even so, there are three Turks to one Armenian in 
that very district ! " 

The second is that in an Oriental country a census 
is not a means of knowledge but an engine of taxation. 
The ruler has no care for information on the subject 
for his own sake, as Western governments have. What 
he wants is to see how many people and in what places 
he can screw more taxes out of. The people know 
this as well as he, and use every effort to outwit his 
agents, and prevent them from knowing their num- 
bers. This is why even civilized governments ruling 
over Oriental nations can rarely get any nearer than a 
rough guess at the numbers of the nation; the inhabi- 
tants are suspicious, and resort to falsehood. In the 
case of the Armenians, remember what I said in the 
first chapter about an Armenian being taxed for every 
male child he has, every year as long as the child lives ; 
naturally, he will not tell the number of his children 
unless he has to. Here is a practical illustration. 
Some years ago I was in an Armenian village when 
the Sultan's officers came to take the census. There 
were about 300 persons in the village; the officer 
wrote 200, because only a few names of boys were 

given him out of the whole. The tax is based on 
22 



338 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

the registration, and if you can keep off the registers 
you can escape the tax. 

The third is the gross incompetence, the corrup- 
tion, and the drunkenness of the officers. The Turk- 
ish officials, governors, mayors, clerks, generals, sol- 
diers, all drink any sort of liquor they can lay hands 
on, and are drunk as often and as long as sober; they 
are so ignorant that they cannot do their work decently 
even when they are sober; and they are utterly venal, 
without the least sense of official obligation. What 
sort of a census is likely to be taken by these ignorant, 
whiskey-swilling, venal barbarians ? One of these 
officials, whom I know well, once came to a village 
to take the census. The Armenians got him so drunk 
that he barked like a dog, bribed him, and he put down 
about half the number of the population. 

How, then, do I know the correct number ? From 
a knowledge of the districts, the numbers of villages, 
and statistics resting on a better foundation than the 
above. I do not pretend that the number is exact; 
but it is near enough for practical purposes. 

The Armenians in Turkey are divided into four 
classes. The first comprises merchants and bankers. 
The second is the professional class: physicians, pro- 
fessors, teachers, and preachers. The third is that of 
artisans: weavers, blacksmiths, copper, silver, and 
gold smiths, tailors, shoemakers, etc. The finest 
Oriental rugs are made by the Armenians, and there 
are weavers of silk and cotton goods, and all kinds of 
hand-made embroidery. There are no factories in 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 339 

Armenia. The fourth class is that of farmers, a pure, 
simple, industrious class, with beautiful farms, vine- 
yards, and orchards, whose products I have described. 
One-tenth of all the Armenians in Turkey are in 
Constantinople. Many of them are poor, in the na- 
ture of things; but the leading bankers, merchants, 
and capitalists there are Armenians, surpassing even 
the Greeks and Jews. I give a few representative 
names: Gulbenkian, Essayian, Azarian, Mosditchian, 
Manougian, Oonjian. The physicians in largest 
practice are Armenians: Khorassanjian, Mateosian, 
Dobrashian, Vartanian, etc. The Sultan's personal 
treasurer is an Armenian, Portukalian Pasha. The 
chief counselor in the foreign office in Constantino- 
ple is an Armenian, Haroutiune Dadian Pasha. The 
greatest lawyers are Armenians: Mosditchian, Tin- 
guerian, etc. The chief photographers of the Sultan 
are Armenians, Abdullah Brothers and Sebah, the 
former considered one of the best photographic firms 
in the world. The personal jeweler of the Sultan is 
an Armenian, Mr. Chiboukjian. For all his hate of 
the Armenians, he has to employ them, for no others 
are competent or trustworthy. The best musicians are 
Armenians: Chonkhajian Surenian, Doevletian, and 
an Armenian young lady named ISTartoss, who often 
plays the piano before the Sultan. The greatest ora- 
tor in Constantinople is an Armenian and a professor 
in Eobert College, Prof. H. Jejizian, to my thinking, 
superior to either Beecher, "Wendell Phillips, or Eobert 
Ingersoll, all of whom I have heard. Finally, the Ar- 



340 ARIi^IENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

menians, as a whole, form the best " society " in Con- 
stantinople, and their modes of living, dress, houses, 
and ways are precisely like those of Americans or 
Europeans. These are Mavroyeni Bey's '^ Indians " ! 

Smyrna is a city of 150,000 or more population. 
About 80,000 are Greeks; you may call it a Greek 
city. The Armenians there number about 8,000, or 
one-tenth of the Greeks, but are ten times richer than 
all the Greeks together. The principal buildings are 
owned by Armenians; the business is in the hands of 
the Armenians. The chief business men are well- 
known in Europe. Mr. Balyivzian owns many steam- 
ers which jDly on the Mediterranean. Mr. Spartalian is 
another very rich and very benevolent man; he built 
a magnificent hospital at Smyrna. In Samsoun, Marso- 
van, Cesarea, Adana, Amassia, Tocat, Sivas, Har- 
poot, Mesere, Malatia, Diarbekir, Arabkir, Oorf a, Ain- 
tab, Marash, Tarsus, Angora, Erzeroun, Erzinghan, 
Moosh, Bitlis, Baiburt, Trebizond, — in a word, every- 
where it is the same. Go where you like in Turkey, 
you find the Armenians at the top. 

When I say they are the richest, I mean until 
early in 1894 they were the richest. But now, in 
many cities of Armenia proper, since the recent atroci- 
ties, they have become the poorest. 

Leading citizens, and the fathers of families, for 
the reasons I have mentioned, were specially singled 
out for vengeance. Their stores, banks, and houses 
were plundered and then burnt, their money and 
jewelry taken from them, and then they were mur- 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 841 

dered wholesale. Now tlie Turks and the Kurds for 
a time are rich with Armenian property; wearing the 
gold watches of Armenian gentlemen, their women 
wearing the jewelry of Armenian ladies. 

IN RUSSIA. 

The Armenians in Russia are the richest and the 
■ most cultivated of any in the world, and have great in- 
fluence. Mr. Kasbarian, an Armenian, is considered 
the richest even of them. The rich city of Tiflis is 
practically an Armenian city. 

There are about 50,000 regular Armenian sol- 
diers in the Russian army, and some of its greatest 
generals have always been Armenians. 

If the Czar would permit this force and the capi- 
talists to settle the Armenian question, they would do 
it in a month, and make Armenia free. The Arme- 
nians have so far been treated very kindly and have 
prospered exceedingly in Russia, but I do not believe 
it will last. In my opinion, the young Czar is only 
waiting for his coronation to oppress the Armenians 
as he has the Jews. Yet the Czar's ablest servants 
and advisers have been Armenians. The body-guard 
of Mcholas' grandfather Alexander was the Arme- 
nian Count Loris MelikofF, universally known; three 
times wounded by ISTihilists on account of his position. 
During the last Turko-Russian war some of the gen- 
erals who accomplished the most with the least sacri- 
fice were Armenians: Der, Lucasoif, Lazareff, Meli- 
koff. There are now no less than eighteen Arme- 
nian generals in the Russian service. I will mention 



342 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

a part: General Sdepan Kishmishian, commander of 
Caucasus; General Ilagop Alkhazian, General Alex- 
ander Lalayian, General Demedr Der Asadoorian, 
General Ishkhan Manuelian, General Alexander Gor- 
ganian, General Ishkhan Gochaminassian, General 
Khosros Touloukhanian, General Arakel Khantamir- 
ian, General H. Dikranian. There are many other 
prominent Armenian officers. 

In Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other great cities 
in Russia there are many Armenian professors in the 
universities, mayors of cities, judges of courts, and 
high civil officers. I will give a few of their names, 
to show that I am not talking blindly: 

Count Hovhannes Telyanian, minister of educa- 
tion, etc. 

Gamazian, minister of foreign affairs in Asia. 

Muguerditch Emin, counselor of education. 

!N^erses Nersessian, professor in Moscow in the 
Royal University. 

Dr. Shilantz, professor in the medical college at 
Kharcof. 

Boghos Gamparian, superintendent of the Royal 
army of Riza. 

Melikian, professor of natural sciences in the Uni- 
versity at Odessa. 

A. Madinian, mayor of Tiflis. 

V. Keghamian, mayor of Erevan. 

H. Moutaffian, mayor of Akheltzka. 

Hundreds and thousands are high officers in dif- 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 343 

ferent departments of the Russian government, but 
there is no space to give a roll of them. 

One, however, a personal friend, I must write a 
few words of, namely. Professor John Ayvazovski, of 
the council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine 
Arts, a marine painter of the first rank. He is now 
79, but looks scarcely 60, with beautiful large, bright 
eves. He came to the World's Fair, where fifteen of 
his pictures were exhibited in the Russian section ; and 
he presented two other fine ones to the American peo- 
ple in recognition of their help to the Russian famine 
sufferers, — one showing the arrival in port of a 
steamer with its cargo of grain, the other the advent of 
a drosky at a village of starving people, with a man in 
front waving an American flag. He visited and 
painted an excellent picture of ]^iagara. He had 
seven pictures at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. 
His paintings are mostly in royal palaces: there are 
120 in that of the Russian imperial family, and 34 in 
the Sultan's. His own gallery, at Theodosia, Russia, 
has 84. He has received many prizes from exposi- 
tions. He is also a great scholar and a good Chris- 
tian. His brother, who lately died, was one of the 
greatest bishops of the Armenian church. 

There is a very interesting story about Professor 
Ayvazovski 's boyhood which I will give here: 

His parents were Armenian peasants, living in a 
village not far from Moscow. One day Mcholas I 
was passing by the hamlet on horseback, and dropped 
his whip. The Emperor beckoned to young Ayvaz- 



344 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ovski, and told him to pick it up. The boy approached 
boldly and asked, '^ Who are you ? " Nicholas re- 
plied, " I am the Emperor." The boy rejoined, " If 
you cannot take care of your whip, how can you take 
care of you.r subjects ? " The Emperor was pleased 
at this remark, and ordered him to be educated at his 
own expense, and in any profession he chose. He 
took to the brush, and is the pride of his nation. 

IN PERSIA, INDIA, ETC. 

The Armenians of Persia are great merchants, 
and high civil officers of the Shah. I name only a 
few: 

Chahanguir Khan is minister of arts and superin- 
tendent of the arsenal. 

]^irza Melkoum Khan was the former ambassador 
of the Shah at London; a man of great wealth and 
learning, and an able diplomat. He retired on ac- 
count of age, and lives in London. 

E^azar Agha was ambassador of the Shah at Paris. 

General Sharl Bezirganian is the general superin- 
tendent of the telegraph service in Persia. 

In India and Burmah there are great Armenian 
merchants, who are millionaires, and respected by the 
governments and the peoples. 

In Egypt, though few in number, they are the 
ruling element. E^ubar Pasha was the prime minister 
of the Egyptian government until a few weeks ago; 
one of the richest men in Egypt, and the greatest 
statesman in Africa. He speaks several languages, 
and spends his summers in France, owning property in 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 345 

Paris. Dikran Pasha is another rich and very gifted 
Armenian, and Boghos Pasha another man of power. 

IN EUROPE. 

There are very rich merchants among the Ar- 
menians at Vienna, Paris, Marseilles, London, and 
Manchester. There is a strong Armenian colony at 
Manchester. All of them are merchants, and 
some of them millionaires. Almost the whole clothing 
trade between England and Turkey is in their hands. 
They have a beautiful Armenian church there, and 
always a learned Armenian bishop; I speak from 
knowledge and observation. They are much respected 
by the English. Some of the Armenian gentlemen 
are married to English ladies of good family, and 
their domestic life is very happy. Prince Loosinian, 
an Armenian, a very great scholar, and much respected 
by the French, lives in Paris; he is descended from 
the last Armenian dynasty. His brother Khoren 
Nar-Bey Loosinian was one of the foremost Armenian 
bishops ; the Sultan of course hated him, and it is said 
had him poisoned while imprisoned in Constantinople. 

The Armenian scholars in Europe are well-known, 
and on a level with the best of any country. There 
is not an institution of learning in Europe where they 
are not to be found, either as students or professors; 
and the prizes and medals they win are many. 

There are two great centers in Europe for the 
Armenian scholars and authors :* one at Vienna and 
the other at Venice. They have colleges and printing 
presses in these places; and they write, translate, and 



346 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

publish themselves in nearly all languages all sorts 
of valuable books. So the Armenian people are well 
supplied with the best modern books. But it must 
be remembered that these valuable books are forbidden 
by the Sultan to go into Turkish Armenia; he wants 
the people kept ignorant. Some of their great schol- 
ars came home from Europe to preach and teach in 
Armenia, to elevate their nation ; but some were killed 
and some banished during the recent atrocities. 

IN AMERICA. 

The Armenians are a new people in America. 
Seventeen years ago, when the writer first came to 
this country, there were not more than a hundred in 
the United States; since then about 10,000 have come, 
most of them within ten years. The first ones came 
about forty-five years ago, among them Mr. Minasian 
and Mr. Sahagian, — both poor young men, now both 
rich. Mr. Minasian lives at Brooklyn; Mr. Sahagian 
at Yonkers, N. Y. Those who have come lately are 
mostly the poorer class; they fled from the " order " of 
the Sultan, and not being allowed to leave Turkey, 
bribed the police and ran away. Not knowing the 
English language, they work in factories in various 
States. There are some well-to-do merchants, how- 
ever, doing business in 'New York, Boston, and else- 
where, handling Oriental rugs, dry-goods, etc. Some 
of the New York names are Gulbenkian, Topakian, 
Tavshandjian, Yard^mian, Chaderdjian, Telfeyian, 
Xostikian. In Boston are Ateshian, Bogigian, etc. 
Mr. Kebabian is in !N'ew Haven; Mr. Enfiyedjian in 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 347 

Denver. There are many others also in other large 
cities. 

Besides merchants, there are many professional 
men among them, about a dozen physicians in 'Ne\Y 
York city alone: Dr. Dadirian, Dr. Gabrielian, Dr. 
Ayvazian, Dr. Apkarian, Dr. Altarian, Dr. Koutoo- 
jian. Some of them are engravers and photographers. 
In 'New York city there are Ilagopian, Kasparian, 
Matigian, and others, very skillful engravers. In 
Boston there is the New England Engraving Co., 
who are Armenians; the manager is Mr. G. Papazian. 

There are about half a dozen Armenians who are 
pastors of American churches in different states. 
About a dozen are special lecturers on the Armenian 
atrocities: Mr. H. Kiretchjian, the secretary of the 
American Belief Association, Mr. Samuelian, Bev. 
A. Bulgurgian, Bev. S. Deviryian, Mr. S. Yenovkian, 
etc. 

There are hundreds of Armenian students dis- 
tributed among nearly all the universities, colleges, 
and theological seminaries in America, and most of 
them are of a superior sort. The greatest physicians 
in Turkey are Armenians, who were graduated from 
different medical colleges in this country. Some of 
the leading pastors and professors in Armenia, who 
were banished and killed during the recent atrocities, 
were graduated in this country. 

Of the factory hands mentioned, there are about 
1,000 in Worcester, Mass.; about 800 in ^N'ew York 
and Brooklyn; about 400 in Boston, and the remainder 



348 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

are scattered everywhere from ^ew York to Califor- 
nia, from Maine to Florida. 

A number of Armenian young men have married 
American women; I believe ninety per cent, are happy. 
After forty or fifty years, there will be a large class 
of American citizens of Armenian blood, and many 
millionaires among them. They are gifted in busi- 
ness, and they are a sober, honest, and faithful people. 
I do not think that there is a single criminal among 
the 10,000 Armenians in this country. 

Some of the Armenian daily and weekly news- 
papers are as follows: 

In Constantinople: Arevelk, Avedaper, Puragn, 
Dyaghig, Hayrenik, Masis, Pounch. 

In Smyrna: Arevlian Mamoul. 

In Etchmiazin: Ararat. 

In Tiilis: Aghpour, Artzakank, Mishag, Murj, 
^or-Tar, Darak. 

In Venice: Pazmaveb. 

In Vienna: Hantes Arnsoria. 

In Marseilles: Armenia. 

In London: UArmenic. 

In New York: Haik. 

Wherever the Armenians go they carry with them- 
selves the church, the school, and the press. 

THE ARMENIAN RELIEF ASSOCIATION. 

This association is putting forth every effort to 
alleviate the sufferings of needy Armenians wherever 
they may be found ; their work has already resulted in 
untold blessings and it deserves the hearty support and 



THE ARMENIANS OF TO-DAY. 349 

contributions of the benevolent public. The officers 
of the association are the following well-known Aix_eri- 
can and Armenian gentlemen: 

Right Rev. Bishop H. Y. Satterlee, D.D., presi- 
dent. 

Hon. Levi P. Morton, first vice-president. 

Right Rev. Bishop Potter, D.D., second vice-pres- 
ident. 

Charles H. Stout, Esq., treasurer. 

J. Bleeker Miller, Esq., chairman executive com- 
mittee. 

Nicholas R. Mersereau, Esq., secretary. 

Herant M. Kiretchjian, general secretary. 

Rev. J. B. Haygooni, A.M., organizing secretary. 

Mr. H. K. Samuelian, agent. 

The headquarters of the association is in ISTew 
York. 



IX. 

THE FUTUKE OF AKMEE^IA AND THE 
BATTLE OF AEMAGEDDOK 

I am going to predict tlie future of Armenia. Not 
in tlie usual sense of guessing at it, but in tlie literal 
sense of foretelling the truth. I am not a prophet of 
God, yet my prediction is based on facts, and its ac- 
curacy should be given some credit from the way my 
predictions two or three years ago about the recent 
atrocities that have already taken place, have come 
true to the letter. At that time no American or Euro- 
pean could be made to believe that such horrors would 
be perpetrated; but I said they would be, and they 
were. And even now the Western peoples are nearly 
as blind as ever; they cannot see the future of Arme- 
nia even with all the facts before them. Many have 
lost hope in it altogether; they think Turkey will exist 
forever, and exterminate the last of the Armenians. 
Doubtless I should in their placcj but I was born in 
Turkey and know the situation. 

This, then, is the truth as I forecast it: — 

Till the end of next year the Armenians will 

suffer more than ever before. Perhaps a million will 

be massacred yet, not only in Turkey, but in Russia. 

(350) 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 351 

The Jews, also, in great numbers, and not only tlie 
Jews and the Armenians, but the Americans and 
Englishmen too. The key rests in the character of the 
present Czar. Nicholas II is not like his father or 
grandfather, a strong man. I will not discuss the 
moral character of the two Alexanders, but I allow 
their powerful intellects and strong wills. They 
favored the Armenians. But the present Czar has no 
strength of character at all ; he is weak both in intellect 
and morals. The Sultan is called the sick man of 
Turkey, but the Czar is the sick man of Russia. His 
short-sightedness in upholding Turkey is one proof. 
Up to the time of the coronation next May you will 
see no more massacres, for the Czar has ordered the 
Sultan to hold his hand, that there may be a peaceful 
ceremony, not clouded with horrors ; that over, he will 
not only give the Sultan leave to unchain his dogs, 
but he will unchain his own. The atrocities in Turk- 
ish Armenia will be redoubled, and the Czar him- 
self inflict on the Armenians all that has been in- 
flicted on the Jews. Even this is not all : The Czar 
will instruct the Sultan to get rid of all American mis- 
sionaries, either banishing them as breeders of sedition, 
or, if they refuse to go, requiring the United States 
government to order them back. Probably the govern- 
ment will obey. Probably, also, the missionaries will 
not obey the government; they will stay where they 
are. Then the Sultan will say he is not responsible for 
their lives, and will issue secret orders to kill them, 
which will be carried out. Further, the Czar will 



352 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

begin a fresh persecution of the Jews, and order the 
Sultan to follow suit on the Jews in Turkey, which 
will be done ; no fear of the Sultan's refusing an order 
to butcher anj^body. Still more, the Czar will com- 
mand him in secret to banish the English missionaries 
from Turkey; the Sultan will request the English 
government to call them back, and there is little doubt 
that Lord Salisbury will comply; but they, like the 
Americans, will refuse to go. Then they will be mur- 
dered by secret orders from the Sultan, who will say he 
is not responsible for it. These massacres will continue 
for two years more. The victims will cry aloud, the 
Americans and English will have greater mass-meet- 
ings, but the governments of both will do nothing. And 
Germany, Austria, and Italy will look calmly on; if 
they act it will be with the Czar, and not against him. 
Meantime both in Europe and America the war pre- 
parations will continue with greater zeal and energy, 
until the cup is full, until the crisis comes; then the 
noble blood of the Anglo-Saxon race will begin to 
boil, and the English and American people at once will 
be aroused like one man, and the governments will 
have to yield. The wrathful Jews will contribute 
Jewish capital for the war expenses ; the wrathful Ar- 
menians throughout the world will give both money 
and soldiers to the governments fighting their battles. 
And a fierce battle will be fought between Russia, 
Turkey, and Erance on one side; America, England, 
the Jews, and the Armenians on the other. The 
former alliance will be beaten: the Czar's Greek 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 853 

Church bigotry, the Sultan's Mohammedan fanati- 
cism, and France's infidelity together will be crushed; 
Russia will go to pieces, Turkey will go pieces, France 
will go to pieces; Armenia will be free, Judea will be 
free. The scattered Armenians will return to Arme- 
nia, the scattered 3ews will return to Judea. Both 
the Armenians and the Jews will have their separate 
governments; not kings, not princes, but a clean re- 
publican form of government. Russia and Turkey 
will be opened to the gospel work. Where now hun- 
dreds of missionaries are going from England and Am- 
erica to other lands, then thousands of them will go; 
and Christian America and England will open their 
hearts and purses together to send as many mission- 
aries as they can to Russia, to Turkey, and to France. 
They will hasten the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
They will prepare the way for the coming King, who 
has the power both in heaven and on the earth. 

What will become of Germany, Austria, and Italy, 
who form the Triple xllliance ? That alliance will be 
dissolved. The German Emperor is* trying hard to 
maintain it, but he will fail. France will once in a 
while threaten Germany with vengeance, but she 
will never be able to carry it out, and there is no need 
for it, because the German people during this cen- 
tury will get rid of their Emperor. There will be a 
great civil war in Germany, between the people and 
the army. If the German emperor could do it, he} 
would begin to crush the Socialists now. He will 

order his soldiers to kill their brothers and fathers, 
23 



354 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

but tliey will not, — they are not as foolish as the 
Emperor; the only result will be the break-up of the 
German Union, and the division of Germany into 
small republican governments. Italy, Austria, and 
Spain will all have the same fate: civil war, and 
splitting into small republics. No czars, no emperors, 
no princes, no lords will remain. Government will be 
for the people, of the people, by the people. The 
time has come; this century will purify the whol^ 
world. But until it is purified, a great deal of fire 
will burn, very great battles will be fought, until free- 
dom and peace shall reign. And the Armenian blood, 
now continually pouring like a river in Armenia, will 
be the cause and the foundation of the coming freedom 
of the world. For the present, the world is not free; 
it is not civilized. It cannot be with such rulers. To 
be free and happy, the people must be aroused, and get 
rid of them. The United States must be the example 
to the older nations ; they must embrace Washington's 
principles. 

It is true that England and America will never 
go regularly to work to give freedom to Judea and 
Armenia, nor with that intention. Their immediate 
motive will be to punish Russia and Turkey for the 
murder of the missionaries, and after the victory is 
won, by the help of Jewish and Armenian purses and 
swords, the Armenians and Jews will be rewarded by 
giving them their original homes and mother-lands. 

This will be laughed at by many, perhaps most, as 
a romantic and pleasant dream. They will say it can 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 355 

never be accomplislied during this century; perhaps 
in the future, after a century or two, but not now. I 
am used to this incredulity; my predictions are never 
believed at the time: but after they come true they 
are. This century is not like the other centuries; a 
day in this century is equal to a year of those which 
have passed away. We may expect from a year of 
it as much as from a centurv in the ancient times. 
This world is a wonderful world now, and will be more 
wonderful hereafter. The future of the world is 
bright, and the world will be brighter and happier. 

Why do I keep repeating ^^ two years " ? Why 
do I not say one year or three years, or a few years % 
I have reasons for it: one is the political situation in 
Europe, and the other is the Bible prophecy in the 
Book of Revelation. 

THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN EUROPE. 
The Europeans have already made great prepara- 
tions for battle. Every one of them preaches peace 
and prepares for war; and none of them have finished 
their preparations yet, — if they had, they would be 
in the thick of it by this time. Each of them declares 
that its preparations will be finished about the end 
of 1897. Russia is building war-ships, England is 
building war-ships, France is building war-ships, and 
all will be finished about the end of 1897. All pre- 
parations converge on the end of 1897. When all 
are ready, they will begin. When newspapers write 
about an immediate European war, I do not believe it. 
There will be no European war for two years; but 



356 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

after that there is no escape from it, — they have to 
fight, and will fight. The war-ships will be ready, 
the cannon wdll be ready, the guns will be ready, the 
ammunition will be ready, the soldiers will be ready. 

The cunning Sultan know^s all this, and is in a 
hurry to exterminate the Armenians, so that when 
they start in earnest with guns to reform Armenia, 
he can say there is no Armenia or Armenians to re- 
form. But that makes no difference for the European 
powers: Turkey is doomed, and the Turkish Empire 
will come to an end forever within this century. 
There will never be any more Turkish Empire or Mo- 
hammedan government; all the Mohammedan powers 
w^ill be under Christian rule. 

The second reason is my belief in the Bible prophe- 
cies. The close resemblance of the Jews and Arme- 
nians will be observed by the reader: both the 
chosen people of God. The children of Israel 
were the chosen people before Christ, and as the Arme- 
nians became the first Christian nation after Christ, 
they became the chosen people after Christ. And 
these chosen people have suffered more than any other 
nations on the globe ; they have had more martyrs than 
any other nation, and have been carried into captivity, 
and finally scattered throughout the world. The 
Bible lands are Palestine and Armenia, where the first 
man, Adam, was created, and where Christ was born 
and was crucified; and so these lands after Christ, be- 
coming the first Christian lands, became the Temple 
of God, 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 857 

We have a prophecy in the eleventh chapter of 
Eevelation that the court of the Temple will be given 
unto the Gentiles, and the Holy City shall they tread 
under foot forty and two months; " and I will give 
power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy 
a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed 
in sackcloth." (Rev. xi, 2-3.) 

Forty and two months and a thousand two hundred 
and three score days are just the same thing. Each 
day in the Bible prophecy is one year. According to 
this interpretation, which I consider correct, the Holy 
City will be trampled by the Gentiles one thousand, 
two hundred and sixty years, ^ow the question is this, 
AVhere is the Holy City, and who are the Gentiles who 
will trample the Holy City ? First, the Holy City is 
both literally the Holy City before Christ, and spirit- 
ually the Holy City after Christ. 

Literally, the Holy City is Jerusalem, where the 
Temple of God was; this is very clear. Spiritually, 
the Holy City is Christianity; wherever there are 
Christians, there is the Holy City. But this is very 
general, and takes the whole world after it is Chris- 
tian. But before we come to that general Holy City, 
we find in the third verse of the same chapter the fol- 
lowing words : "I will give power unto my two wit- 
nesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hun- 
dred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth." So 
from these statements we find that two especial wit- 
nesses in that Holy City, clothed in sackcloth, will tes- 
tify. Who are these two witnesses ? My interpreta- 



358 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

tion is that tliej are tlie two chosen peoples of God and 
Christ. And the two chosen peoples are the Jews 
and the Armenians. The Jews were the chosen peo- 
ple before Christ, and the Armenians became the 
chosen people after Christ, as King Abgarus, the Ar- 
menian king, believed in Christ before Christ was 
crucified, and afterwards, in the time of Gregory the 
Illuminator, the whole Armenian nation became a 
Christian nation, in 310 A. D. Before Palestine was 
considered a holy country, Armenia was considered a 
holy land, because the first man was created there, and 
Xoah's ark rested on Mount Ararat. And as the Ar- 
menians became the first Christian nation on the globe, 
Palestine and Armenia were the holy countries or the 
Holy City. Although this is so, after all the literal 
Holy City, Jerusalem, remains a holy city; and she will 
be after Christ, under the rule of Gentiles one thou- 
sand two hundred and sixty years, while the two wit- 
nesses will testify there under sackcloth for one thou- 
sand two hundred and sixtv vears. 

^ow the question is this, How long is it since the 
city of Jerusalem was captured by the Gentiles, or 
more correctly by the ^' beast that ascendeth out of 
the bottomless pit " (Rev. ii. T), which is the Moham- 
medan power ? The Mohammedan power in dif- 
ferent places in Revelation is called the Beast, the 
Dragon, the Whore or Harlot, and the False Prophet, 
and it is the Gentile kingdom after Christ. And the 
time which is given to the Mohammedan power to 
rule, to destroy, and to kill the Jews and the Chris- 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 359 

tians in Jerusalem or in the Bible lands, is only one 
thousand two hundred and sixty years. Since the 
city of Jerusalem was captured by the Mohammedans 
is 1258 years, and when this present year and the next 
come to an end in 1897, the Mohammedan power will 
also come to an end, and the city of Jerusalem will be 
restored to the Jews, and Armenia to the Armenians. 

Towards the end of the Mohammedan power, Mo- 
hammedans wdll begin to kill both the Jews and the 
Armenians for three and a half years (see Rev. xi, 7, 
8, 9). ^ow, for a year and a half the Mohammedans 
have been killing the Christians, — which the author 
predicted two or three years ago; and they will kill 
two years more. " And the sixth Angel poured out 
his vial upon the Great River Euphrates and the water 
thereof was dried up." (See Rev. xvi, 12.) That 
means that the people on the shores of the Euphrates 
were killed, namely the Armenians. 

I am not writing a commentary on Revelation, 
but simply bringing in a few passages to enlighten the 
mind of the reader about the future of Armenia and 
the battle of Armageddon. 

THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 

(See Rev. xvi, 13-16.) 
The battle of Armageddon is the final and the 
greatest battle. All the nations will take part in it; 
but the leaders in the battle will be the ones I have 
said, and the other will be their followers on the one 
side or the other. And this battle will settle all the 
questions which are not settled now. The great East- 



360 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ern question will be settled, the great question between 
capital and labor will be settled, all the emperors and 
czars, kings, and princes will come down from their 
thrones, and permanent international arbitration will 
be established. The questions which are asked now 
will never be asked: What do the emperors say ? 
What do the czars say ? What do the Sultans say ? 
Men will ask then, What do the people say ? What is 
the wish of the people ? 

Then the question comes, where is Armageddon ? 
Armageddon is Armenia. Of course this is entirely 
a new interpretation to European and American schol- 
ars; no one has ever been certain where Armageddon 
is, but it is generally thought to be somewhere near 
Jerusalem, a little hill called Mount Megiddo. In the 
time of Judges, '' The kings came and fought, then 
fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters 
of Megiddo." (Judges v, 19.) But as a native of the 
Bible lands, and as a native minister, I am positive 
about it. The first question is. What does Armaged- 
don mean ? It means the High Lands. Is there any 
higher land in the Bible lands than Armenia ? The 
main land is from 4,000 to Y,000 feet above the level 
of the sea, and Mount Ararat is about 18,000 feet 
high. Another question is. What does Armenia 
mean ? It means precisely the high lands, as Ar- 
mageddon does.* Armenia took her name from King 
Aram or Armenag; both mean high lands, or the 
possessors of high lands; and Armenia also means the 
high lands. 



THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. 361 

Again, what does Ararat mean, which is just in 
the center of Armenia proper ? It means the holy or 
high land. Now bring all together, Armageddon, 
Armenia, Ararat, all mean just the same: high lands. 
Not only high lands, but holy high lands. Long be- 
fore Palestine was called a holy land, Armenia had 
the name of Holy land, and the Armenians were called 
the Highlanders. 

In a word, Armageddon is the combination of 
three different words, Armenia - Garden - Eden : Arm- 
ageddon. 

So the final battle will be fought in Armenia. The 
nation with the greatest part will have the greatest 
future. As man fell from grace in Armenia, man 
will be restored to peace and holiness in Armenia. 
And before that peace, holiness, and restoration come, 
the greatest battle will be fought in Armenia. After 
the fall of man, disgrace and curse went forth from 
Armenia; so prosperity and blessings will come forth 
from Armenia. As the first battle in the world was 
fought in Armenia, between Cain and Abel, and the 
other battles followed, so the last battle will be fought 
in Armenia, and the universal peace will come out of 
it. As the first martyrdom in the world was in Arme- 
nia, so the last and greatest martyrdom will be in Ar- 
menia. And from the blood of Armenian martyrs 
everlasting happiness will follow to all nations. And 
the kingdom of Christ will be established throughout 
the world. 



X. 



POEMS O^ THE AKMEOTA^ QUESTION". 

[From the New York Independent, by special permission.] 
LORD SALISBURY. 

By the Rev. T. S. Perky. 

**0h! for a year, a month, a day of Oliver Cromwell." — The 
Independent. 

" What Lord Salisbury seems to lack is a little Cromwellian 
courage." — A Speaker in City Temple, London. 



Oh! for an hour of Cromwell, 

For a leader brave and grand 
To guide the wrath, and point the path, 

Of a mighty Christian land ! 
To heed the cry of innocent blood, 

To blush for the world's disgrace, 
With hand to deal a blow of steel 

In the murderous Moslem's face ! 



Alas ! for a leader heedless 

While massacred villages flame, 
Unmoved by shrieks of maidenhood 

At wrong too foul for name ! 
Strong to throttle the feeble, 

Feeble to beard the strong, 
With eye o'er-meek, and blanching cheek,- 

How long, O Lord, how long ? 

(362) 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 363 

3. 

And women cover their faces, 

And men are fain to tiiss. 
Cromwell's head upon Temple Bar 

Were a leader better than this ! 
And heaven grows black with horror, 

And earth grows red with wrong, 
And martyrs cry from earth and sky, 

How long, O Lord, how long ? 
Orange Park, Florida, 

DEUS VULT. 

By Allen Eastman Cross. 

'* It is time that one general shout of execration — not of men, 
hut of deeds — one general shout of execration, directed against deeds 
of icickedness, should rise from outraged humanity.'' — Gladstone's 
Armenian address at Chester. 

No tomb of death shall be our guest 
Wherein the Lord of Life may rest. 

No empty sepulcher of stone 

Across the world makes bitter moan, 

But Christian hearts that break and bleed 
For our avenging pity plead. 

O brothers, for our brothers' sake 
Let the crusading spirit wake ! 

O Christian England, 'tis the Christ 
By Moslem hands is sacrificed ! 

Away, away with hollow words. 

Now sheath our speech, unsheath our sword ! 

God wills: The guns of Christendom 
Proclaim the tyrant's doom has come ! 
Manchester, N. H. 



364 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

TWO SONNETS. : 

By Henry Van Dyke. 
I. 

The Turk's Way. 

*' S'and back, ye messengers of mercy ! Stand 

Far off, for I will save my troubled folk 

In my own way." So the false Sultan spoke; 
And Europe, barkening to bis base command. 
Stood still to see him heal his wounded land. 

Through blinding snows of winter and through 
smoke 

Of burning towns she saw him deal the stroke 
Of cruel mercy that his hate had planned. 

Unto the prisoners and the sick he gave 
New tortures, horrible, without a name; 

Unto the thirsty, blood to drink; a sword 
Unto the hungry; with a robe of shame 

He clad the naked, making life abhorred. 
He saved by slaughter, but denied a grave. 

II. 
America's Way. 

But thou, my country, tho' no fault be thine 

For that red horror far across the sea; 

Tho' not a tortured wretch can point to thee, 
And curse thee for the selfishness supine 
Of those great powers who cowardly combine 

To shield the Turk in his iniquity; 

Yet, since thy hand is innocent and free, 
Rise, thou, and show the world the way divine. 
Thou canst not break the oppressor's iron rod. 

But thou canst minister to the oppressed; 
Thou canst not loose the captive's heavy chain. 
But thou canst bind his wounds and soothe his pain. 

Armenia calls thee, Empire of the West, 
To play the Good Samaritan for God. 
New York City. 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 365 

TO THOSE WHO DIED FOR THEIR FAITH. 

Armenia, 1894 to 189— f 
By Mrs. Merrill E. Gates. 
" These loved their lives not, to the death ! " 
But we at ease to-day, who claim 
Allegiance to the One great Name, 
Could we as nobly die for Faith ? 

We challenge not the crucial test ! 
Self cannot prove to self its power 
If e'er should come that testing hour 

God give us grace to choose the Best ! 

But these have overcome ! Their Lord 
In bitter death have not denied ! 
Have chosen still the Crucified 

In face of bayonet and sword ! 

Our age heroic looms ! Our eyes 
Behold white martyr brows ! Still hears 
Our sin-gray world with unthrilled ears 

Once more the martyr-chorus rise ! 

Come Thou to succor the great need ! 
Thy judgment shall not long delay ! 
God doeth his strange work to-day ! 
The Judge is at the door ! Take heed ! 
Amherst, Mass. 

ARMENIA. 

By Willimina L. Armstrong. 

Out of storms and peace light, out of confusing things. 
Bound in mysterious fashion by the bindings of blood 
and hate, 

Lo, are the Nations assembled now 

At the Twentieth Century Gate. 
Leaning beside the portal: Close ! in the name of God ! 
Over the Garden of Eden, in the evening of this our Day. 

Over the breast of the Mountain old 

Where the Ark of deliverance lay. 



366 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Leaning beside the portal: Hark to the clashing arms ! 

Hark to the voice in the Garden, to the Nations of Earth 

it calls, 

"Bid! for the Woman is Christian blood; 

And the sword and the bayonet falls ! " 

Sold ! A Christian Woman ! Sold in the name of Christ! 

Sold to her death in the Eden with its soil by her blood 

made damp ! 

Sold in the eve of our Mighty Age ! 

With the light of our Age for a lamp ! 
New York Oity. 

ARMENIA'S BITTER CRY. 

By Hetta Lord Hayes Ward. 
I. 
World, world, hear our prayer 
Oh where is Russia, where ? 

A fearful deed is done. 

Its glare affronts the sun. 
Smoke ! Flame ! Fire ! 
Rouse thee, great Russian Sire ! 

When Christian homes are ablaze, 

Hast thou no voice to raise ? 
Thy neighbor to thee has cried, 
Pass not on the other side. 

Look on our dire despair ! 

Where art thou. Czar, oh, where ? 

II. 

Land of the sun and sea, 

Wake, Rome and Italy ! 
Our ancient Church in vain 
Calls thee to break her chain. 

Shame ! Shame ! Shame ! 

Where sleeps thy early fame ? 
To death our priests are led. 
Their flocks lie slaughtered, dead. 

Awake, good Pope of Rome ! 

Our saints through blood go home; 
Hear thou their dying plea. 
Where, where is Italy ? 



Newark, N. J. 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 367 

III. 
Land of Fiaternite, 
Brave France, turn not away ! 

Shall blood thy lilies stain ? 

Wilt bear the curse of Cain ? 
Wake ! Wake ! Wake ! 
For God and glory's sake ! 

On a ghastly funeral pyre, 

Brave men are burned with fire; 
God calls to France, the free, 
" Thy brother, where is he ? " 

Lest God in wrath requite, 

Awake, befriend the right ! 

IV. 

Where is good Frederick's son 
When evil deeds are done ? 

Shall prisons reek and rot, 

His mother's blood speak not ? 
Haste ! Haste ! Haste ! 
Time runs too long to waste. 

If halts the Kaiser dumb, 

Let all the people come. 
Your oath must sacred stand, 
Treaties of Fatherland; 

Victims of Turk and Kurd, 

Rest on your plighted word. 

v. 
Your sisters' shame and blood 
Cry out to England's God. 

Slain on the church's floor. 

Their blood flowed out the door. 
Speak ! Speak ! Speak ! 
The strong must help the weak. 

Leave Turkish bonds unsold; 

Betray not Christ for gold. 
Let the Moslem dragon feel 
Once more Saint George's heel. 

England, awake, awake ! 

World, hear, for Jesus' sake ! 



368 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

ARMENIA. 
By Geo. W. Crofts. 

Tune : " Maryland, My Maryland." 

Where'er thy martyr bloocl has run 

Armenia ! 
Shed by the fierce Mohammedan, 

Armenia ! 
There nations gather in their grief — 
There would they bring in swift relief — 
Oh, may thy agony be brief, 

Armenia ! 

God's eye of pity glances down, 

Armenia ! 
He sees thy rudely broken crown, 

Armenia ! 
His heart is touched with all thy woes, 
His mighty arm will interpose, 
He'll save thee from thy cruel foes, 

Armenia ! 

All o'er thy verdant plains shall spread, 

Armenia ! 
The golden grain where thou hast bled, 

Armenia ! 
Thy harvest song shall yet arise 
To him who rules in yonder skies. 
Whose ear has heard thy bitter cries, 

Armenia ! 

America extends to thee, 

Armenia ! 
The cordial of her sympathy, 

Armenia ! 
And every soul in this free land 
Would give to thee the helping hand. 
And near thee in thy sorrow stand, 

Armenia ! 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 369 

In this dark hour be brave and strong, 

Armenia ! 
The right shall triumph over wrong, 

Armenia ! 
'Twill not be long till thou shalt see 
The glorious dawn of liberty, 
When thou shalt be forever free, 

Armenia ! 



ARMENIAN HYMN. 
By Alice Stone Blackwell. 

[From the Armenian of Ners^s the Graceful ; born 1102, died 1172.] 

O Dayspring, Sun of righteousness, shine forth with light 

for me ! 
Treasure of mercy, let my soul thy hidden riches see ! 

Thou before whom the thoughts of men lie open in thy 

sight, 
Unto my soul, now dark and dim, grant thoughts that 

shine with light ! 

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Almighty One in Three, 
Care-taker of all creatures, have pity upon me ! 

Awake, O Lord, awake to help, with grace and power 

divine; 
Awaken those who slumber now, like Heaven's host to 

shine ! 

O Lord and Saviour, life-giver, unto the dead give life, 
And raise up those that have grown weak and stumbled 
in the strife ! 

O Skillful Pilot ! Lamp of light, that burneth bright 

and clear ! 
Strength and assurance grant to me, now hid away in 

fear. 

O Thou that makest old things new, renew me and adorn; 
Rejoice we with salvation, Lord, for which I inly mourn. 
Giver of good, unto my sins be thy forgiveness given ! 
Lead Thy disciples. Heavenly King, unto the flocks of 
Heaven. 
24 



370 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

Defeat the evil busbandmau that soweth tares and weeds; 
Wither aud kill in me the fruits of all his evil seeds ! 

O Lord, grant water to my eyes, that they may shed 
warm tears 

To cleanse and wash away the sin that in my soul ap- 
pears ! 

On me, now hid in shadow deep, shine forth, O glory 

bright ! 
Sweet juice, quench thou my soul's keen thirst ! Show 

me the path of light ! 

Jesus, whose name is love, with love crush thou my 

stony heart; 
Bedew my spirit with thy blood, and bid my griefs depart ! 

O thou that even in fancy art so sweet. Lord Jesus Christ, 
Grant that with Thy reality my soul may be sufficed ! 

When thou shalt come again to earth, and all thy glory 

see. 
Upon that dread and awful day, O Christ, remember me! 

Thou that redeemest men from sin, O Saviour, I implore, 
Redeem him who now praiseth Thee, to praise Thee ever- 
more. 

Dorchsster, Mass. 



Miss Alice Stone Elackwell is a noble Boston 
woman who is greatly interested in the Armenians. 
She has written many articles and poems, and done 
much toward arousing public sentiment throughout 
the United States in behalf of the Armenians. 

The author of this book esteems it a privilege to 
offer his personal thanks, as well as those of his per- 
secuted nation, to Miss Elackwell, by whose kind per- 
mission the following poems from her book, " Ar- 
menian Poems," are here reprinted. 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 371 
THE LAMENT OF MOTHER ARMENIA. 



In alien lands they roam, my children dear; 
Where shall I make appeal, with none to hear ? 
Where shall I find them ? Far away from me 
My sons serve others, thralls in slavery. 

Chorus, 

Oh, come, my children, back to me ! 
Come home, your motherland to see ! 

II. 
Ages have passed, no news of them I hear; 
Dead, dead are they, my sons that knew not fear. 
I weep, the blood is frozen in my veins; 
No one will cure my sorrows and my pains. 

Chorus. 

ni. 

My blood is failing and my heart outworn, 
My face forever mournful and forlorn; 
To my dark grave with grief 1 shall descend, 
Longing to see my children to the end. 

Chorus. 

IV. 

O wandering shepherd, you whose mournful song 
Rings through the valleys as. you pass along! 
Come, let us both, with many a bitter tear, 
Weep for the sad death of our children dear ! 

Chorus. 

v. 
Crane of the fatherland, fly far away, 
Fly out of sight, beyond the setting day; 
My last sad greetings to my children bear. 
For my life's hope has died intd despair ! 

Chorus. 



372 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

LIBERTY. 

Michael Ghazarian Naibandian was born in Kussian Armenia in 1830; graduated 
at the University of St. Petersburg with the title of Professor ; was active as a 
teacher, author, and journalist ; fell under suspicion for his political opinions, 
and underwent a rigorous imprisonment of three years, after which he was exiled 
to the province of Sarakov, and died there, in 1866, of lung disease contracted 
in prison. It is forbidden in Russia to possess a picture of Nalbandian ; but 
portraits of him, with his poem on "Liberty" printed around the margin, are 
circulated secretly. 

I. 

When God, who is forever free, 

Breathed life into my earthly frame, — l. 

From that first day, by his free will m 

When I a living soul became, — m 

A babe upon my mother's breast, 

Ere power of speech was given to me, 
Even then I stretched my feeble arms ' 

Forth to embrace thee, Liberty! ■. 

i 
II. f 

Wrapped round with many swaddling bands, 

All night I did not cease to weep, 
And in the cradle, restless still. 

My cries disturbed my mother's sleep. 
" O mother ! " in my heart I prayed, 

" Unbind my arms and leave me free ! " ; 

And even from that hour I vowed 

To love thee ever. Liberty ! 

III. 
When first my faltering tongue was freed, 

And when my parents' hearts were stirred 
With thrilling joy to hear their son 

Pronounce his first clear-spoken woTd, 
*' Papa, mamma," as children use, 

W^ere not the names first said by me; 
The first word on my childish lips 

Was thy great name, O Liberty ! 



POEMS ON THE ARMENIAN QUESTION. 373 

IV. 

Liberty answered from on hig 

The sovereign voice of Destiny: 
" Wilt tliou enroll thyself henceforth 

A soldier trne of Libertj^ V 
The path is thorny all the way. 

And many trials wait for thee; 
Too strait and narrow is this world 

For him who loveth Liberty. " 

V. 

" Freedom ! " I answered, " on my head 

Let fire descend and thunder burst; 
Let foes against my life conspire. 

Let all who hate thee do their worst: 
I will be true to thee till death; 

Yea, even upon the gallows tree 
The last breath of a death of shame 

Shall shout thy name, O Liberty ! " 



THE WANDERING ARMENIAN TO THE SWALLOW. 

By C. A. ToTOCHiAN. 
I. 
O swallow, gentle swallow, 

Thou lovely bird of spring ! 
Say, whither art thou flying 
So swift on gleaming wing ? 

IT. 

Fly to my birthplace. Ashdarag, 

The spot I love the best; 
Beneath my father's roof-tree, 

O swallow, build thy nest. 

ni. 

There dwells afar my father, 
A mournful man and gray. 

Who for his only son's return 
Waits vainly, dav by day. 



374 ARMENIA AND HER PEOPLE. 

IV. 

If thou shoiildst chance to see him, 
Greet him with love from me; 

Bid him sit down and mourn with tears 
His son's sad destiny. 

V. 

In poverty and loneliness, 
Tell him, my days are passed: 

My life is only half a life. 
My tears are falling fast. 

VI. 

To me, amid bright daylight, 
The sun is dark at noon; 

To my wet eyes at midnight 
Sleep comes not, late or soon. 

VII. 

Tell him that, like a beauteous flower 

Smit by a cruel doom. 
Uprooted from my native soil, 

I wither ere my bloom. 

VIII. 

Fly on swift wing, dear swallow, 
Across the quickening earth, 

And seek in fair Armenia 
The village of my birth. 



NOTICE. 

The author of this book delivers lectures on the following 
subjects : 

Armenia, Armenians, and the recent Atrocities. 
The Sultan of Turkey, Hamid the II. 
American Missions in Turkey. 
Social and Political Life in Turkey. 
About 400 stereopticon views, as well as large maps, and 
costumes are used to illustrate the various lectures, which are 
highly instructive and entertaining, and never fail of interesting 
the most critical audiences. 

The lectures are delivered upon very reasonable terms. For 
particulars address, Rev. GEO. H. FILIAN, 

G(yr. Eastern Parkway and Cresent St., Brooklyn, N. T. 



From the testimonials of prominent clergymen, authors, and 
secretaries of Y. M. C. A.'s, the following few are selected. 

From Dr. R. S. Storrs, President of the American Board 
of Foreign flissions. 

Your address to my congregation was admirable in its tone, and its entire 
impression upon those who heard it. Your knowledge of the facts presented is, 
of course, accurate and complete ; and your method of presenting the facts is 
clear, impressive, and leaves the minds instructed and the hearts quickened. 

From the Faculty of Chicago Theological Seminary. 

This will introduce to you Rev. George H. Filian, a graduate of this Semi- 
nary, a man of true character and devotion. He has been obliged to suspend 
work for a lime in Turkey, owing to his faithfulness in preaching the truth, and 
is recommended to the consideration of Christians throughout America. 

By order of the Faculty, H. N. Scott, Secretary. 

From Prof. G. B. Wilcox, D.D., Chicago Theological 

Seminary. 

Rev. G. H. Filian, a graduate of this Seminary in 1882, and since pastor of 
Armenian Evangelical Church, Marsovan, Turkey, is lecturing on Turkish 
missions and Turkish manners and customs. He is an exceptionally able speaker^ 
and may with all confidence be introduced by any pastor to his congregation. 
I speak from long and intimate acquaintance. G. B. Wilcox. 

(375) 



From Rev. John H. Barrows, D.D., Pastor First 
Presbyterian Church. 

Rev. Geo. H. Filiau, of Syria, lectured on Constantinople to my people last 
night, greatly interesting them. His illustrations are excellent, and he speaks 
with great enthusiasm. The evening's entertainment was very wholesome, and 
I cordially commend his worthy lecture. My people have heard him also with 
pleasure on "Social Life in Turkey." 

From the Department Secretary Y. fl. C. A. of Chicago, 

Illinois. 

Eev. Geo. H. Filian delivered before one of our meetings his interesting lecture 
on " Missions in Turkey.'* I have never heard a speaker more interesting, and 
that held the attention of the audience in a greater measure than Mr. Filian. He 
is intelligent upon such a subject. He is versatile in expression, enthusiastic in 
delivery, and certainly very devout in heart. Daniel Sloan. 

From the Secretary in charge Central Building, Y. fl. C. A., 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Rev. Grco. H. Filian gave his stereopticon lecture on "Constantinople" be- 
fore our young men last night, and I am pleased to say that it is a lecture of rare 
interest and enjoyment. The views are beautiful and very instructive, as they 
are rarely thrown upon a screen. Mr. Filian has the advantage of speaking 
from actual experience, and his eloquent words, devoted spirit, and fund of 
humor quickly win the attention and sympathy of any audience. 

Arthur B. Wood. 

From Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D., Pastor of the Brick 
Church, New York. 

Your lecture before our Young Men's Society on Monday was a decided suc- 
cess. Every one was interested in what you had to say, and the pictures were 
excellent. We shall be glad when the time comes to have you with us again. 

From Rev. George fl. Stone, D.D., Hartford. 

Mr. Filian is thoroughly intelligent on the whole Eastern question, and gives 
a view of Armenia and its present trial which is exceedingly valuable. 

From A. C. Dixon, D.D., Pastor Hanson Place Baptist 
Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Rev. George H. Filian has lectured twice in the Hanson Place Baptist church, 
and it gives me pleasure to say that his lectures are interesting and instructive. 
They stir the heart to work and pray for the relief of persecuted Armenia. 

From Louis Albert Banks, D.D., Pastor of Hanson Place 
n. E. Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

I take great pleasure in saying that the Rev. Geo. H. Filian, who has spoken 
from the platform at Hanson Place M. E. church in behalf of the Armenian 
Christians, and also lectured in our church on Constantinople, is a very eloquent 
and earnest speaker, who will attract attention and arouse interest anywhere. 

(376) O-iuAjS^ 



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